Dinner time

Hunter set the table all by himself for the first time tonight. :) How sweet is this?! Man, I love this kid.

Hunter-isms

This little guy has been saying some really funny things lately. I know I need to document these types of things because they will someday be forgotten. My mom has dubbed these "Hunter-isms", and here are some of the funniest ones from the past couple of weeks.

Scenario #1:

AJ was working out to a video in our bedroom. Hunter loves to "work out" with him, copying his moves, which is cute enough in of itself. AJ asked Hunter if he could do one move and Hunter said "no". "Why not?" AJ said, to which Hunter replied, "I'm just a little boy!". :)

Scenario #2:

In preparation for Baby #2, Hunter now has a big boy room upstairs. (His nursery was downstairs) Since he's also in a big boy bed and that he knows he can get out of, I have to gate him upstairs so he doesn't try to come down the stairs in the dark at 3am. One morning before work last week, AJ got up and started the coffee maker, went into the office and heard a little voice coming from upstairs saying "Dad, you making coffee down there?". HA!!

Scenario #3:

We were watching a show on PBS called "Wild Animal Babies" before naptime. This particular episode featured lions and talked about how lions lick themselves to clean themselves. Hunter walks over to me with his tongue sticking out and said "My want to clean you" and proceeds to lick my arm. Nice!!

Thanksgiving and Whitney's shower

We made our last trip to Indiana until after Baby #2 arrives last week for Thanksgiving and my sister Whitney's baby shower. Whitney is due 6 days after me so we are really excited to have our little ones growing up so close in age with each other.

Travel was easy, thank goodness, and we enjoyed seeing family and friends while we were there, as always. We had two Thanksgiving dinners - one at my Mom and Brad's, and then down to Rushville for the Winship side of the family dinner in the evening. Hunter had a ball playing with my cousins' kids. It has been several years since we were in Indy for Thanksgiving so it was nice to be home again.

It was a decent day outside from a temperature standpoint, so Hunter got to play a little football outside with Papa and Uncle Brian. He loved it!


Friday, Hunter got to play with his friend Hudson who is a couple of months younger than him. These two haven't seen each other in about a year and they were so cute together. I was horrible at taking pictures and didn't even get any of the two of them together, unfortunately. I hate when I do that!

Sunday, we celebrated the upcoming arrival of my nephew(!) with a baby shower for my sister! I am really excited about being an aunt and to see all of the future fun these cousins have in store. It was a nice time and we enjoyed her special day with family and friends. Hunter had a burger date with the guys and somehow managed to make $20 off of the outing.


Here Hunter is hanging out with Aunt Mitty one night:

And on a frozen yogurt run on our last night in town:

Breakfast with Santa

My heart is full tonight after spending this morning downtown at the Christmas Affair with Hunter and AJ. I love this time and year and Hunter "gets" Christmas more this year so it is extra fun. Today he got all dressed up in his spiffy Christmas outfit and got to make a gingerbread house, which he loved, and sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas (a red rocket ship).

I really hope that this gingerbread house lasts a long time. It is so sweet and I love it so much because he made it (mostly) himself. We also were talking about Santa and that he needed to tell Santa what he wanted him to bring on Christmas. He came up with a red rocket ship all by himself. He's been in to the show "Little Einsteins" lately, so I think that is where he came up with this idea. Cute. :)

Here are a couple of pictures from our day:

Happy Halloween!

I must say, Halloween has never really been one of my favorite holidays but I really look forward to it now that I have a child. Hunter was super cute last year but this year he really "got it". We talked for a while leading up to it about what he was going to dress up as and what trick-or-treating was. (Side note: I'm told that this is really the last year I'll get to pick what to dress him us as since he'll probably have his own very strong opinion about that next year. We'll see!) He's had fund dressing up in his cowboy boots while waiting to wear them on Halloween.

This year he was Woody from the movie "Toy Story". I started working on his costume well in advance so it was all put together in plenty of time. My mom always made our costumes when we were growing up and I really wish I could make his costumes special like that, although I'm not quite there yet in my sewing skills. :) So, thank goodness for Etsy and Amazon!

We got started a little on the early side so we could get finished before it got too dark and come home to hand out our candy. Hunter did a great job and had the hang of it in no time, other than not understanding why he couldn't eat every piece of candy as he got it. :)

He wasn't really in the picture taking mood....he was too preoccupied with getting started trick-or-treating, but I managed to get a few pics...

Before we headed out -

Heading up the neighbor's driveway -

Hunter and Owen the pirate -

I picked Skittles....SEE!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Pumpkin Patch at Sweetberry Farms in Marble Falls again this year. This is the same one that we went to last year and really liked it. It's about an hour away but is a really pretty drive down a winding highway so it was fun to make an afternoon out of it. Hunter got to feed the goats, which he thought was pretty hilarious, see a fire truck up close and personal and get his face painted like a scarecrow!


I just love this sweet picture. Hunter put his arm around AJ while watching some horsey rides -

Happy Fall! (Even though it's still 90 degrees here! :) )

2 1/2!

Happy half birthday to Hunter! To celebrate today, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch and a little playtime. He had a great time and there were only a few people there which made it even better. :)

Here are a couple of pictures of him playing today:


This boy cracks me up every day. Sometimes he breaks out a new word that I've never heard him use before and it just makes me laugh (and realize how much he hears and processes!). For example, the other day while eating breakfast, he decided he didn't want his vitamin. He took it out of his mouth and said "I don't really like this. It's disgusting." I didn't even know he knew the word disgusting! He's also starting to create conversations between his toys, which is pretty funny to watch. He has a Buzz Lightyear and a Woody doll from "Toy Story" and he makes them talk to each other. He's definitely all boy - give him some sticks, rocks and dirt to play with and he's happy. On the other hand, he's very sweet and uses his manners very well. We certainly have some crazy times, but 6 months in to 2 years, I wouldn't call his twos "terrible" by any means! According to my measurements, he's about 36" tall and 30 lbs right now, and will be the first to tell you that he is far from a baby - he's a big boy!

Texas State Fair

We took a family roadtrip to Dallas this weekend. Hunter and I went to the Texas State Fair while AJ was at the Texas/OU football game, which is inside the fairgrounds. Hunter got to see a dog show, go to the petting zoo, see some livestock, listen to a storytime and rode some rides.

I definitely learned a few lessons regarding navigating a fair of this size for next time, but the most important thing is that Hunter had a good time. I had planned on trying to miss the majority of the crowd as much as I could, going in after the game started and leaving before it ended, which didn't really work out as I had planned, but it ended up being okay for us in the end because we were still there when AJ got out of the game so he could ride some rides with him. It didn't even cross my mind that I couldn't go on the little kiddie rides with him being pregnant, but they wouldn't even let me on the carousel so it all worked out well in the end. I had also planned on trying some crazy fried fair food but ended up only having a funnel cake. Better luck next year!

I forgot my real camera at home, so I only had my iPhone to take pictures, but still managed to get a few.

Our mornings so far this week

Here is what I saw when I walked back in to our bedroom this morning after leaving the room for a few minutes. He had my mascara in his hand and was applying it to his face. :)

Save this one for the "show to first girlfriend" file!

This morning as I was driving, I heard him singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in the backseat. He sang the entire song! I've never even heard him sing part of it before, so I was surprised to catch him singing it. It was so cute.

Monday morning he helped me bake for the first time. We made some banana bread and he loved helping. He also loved the banana bread, as that is all he wants to eat now...

And with the finished product -

Mmmm....I want to eat it -

What??? I'm just sitting here....not doing anything...

Sweet Boy

The moments like these are the reason I like keeping this blog. I know one day I will forget some of the funny and cute things that Hunter says/does and will really enjoy looking back and reading these entries.

Hunter can be a wild and crazy and sometimes sassy little boy (he's a 2 year old!!), but he can also be so sweet that it just melts my heart.

Yesterday I bought a little storage shelf for his playroom. As I was putting it together, he was grabbing everything that I needed to use, picking up things I was asking him not to, and the entire process was exhausting me. As I was finishing it up, he looked at me with his hand on the shelf and said "This is beautiful, Mommy".

This morning, Maggie was sitting on the couch next to him as he was eating some Cheerios from his snack trap. He pet her and said "I love Mag. She's my best dog".

Man, I love this sweet boy.

Hunter's Big Announcement

Hunter is going to be a big brother! I know he will be a great one. His baby brother or sister is due Feb. 23rd.

Mr. Inquisitive

Hunter's response to anything has been "Why?" for quite a while now. I've gotten pretty good at the game and can go one for several back and forth questions/answers until he stops asking. :) However, lately he has been taking it to a new level. He has been pointing out objects that he doesn't know the name of and asking what it is used for.

Example:
H: "What's that thing?"
Me: "A whisk"
H: "Whisk. What do you use it for?"

If he sees an animal that he doesn't recognize, he also asks what it is and wants to know what it says. I love that he is so inquisitive and eager to learn. It's so fun teaching him new things.

We have had a ridiculously hot summer. This week we finally started seeing some temps in the 90s, but had 80ish 100+ degree days this summer. We've enjoyed getting out and walking again in the mornings and the 90s have been a nice break from the blazing heat. Hunter has really enjoyed playing in the backyard this week and stopping at the playground on our walks. Here are some playground pics....sometimes he is more interested in picking up nuts and playing with the mulch on the ground than actually playing on the playground. :)

We converted Hunter's crib to a toddler bed on 8/28. He loves his big boy bed and has done remarkably well in it.

Here is his last time sleeping in his crib :( -

And his new big boy bed! -

Scrumptious!

Last night as we were eating dinner, Hunter says to me "This o-detti is so scrumptious!". I LOVE this. First of all, my not even 2 1/2 year old just used the word "scrumptious" in a sentence (while complimenting something I cooked, no less :)), and second of all, I think it is so cute when he says o-detti for spaghetti or o-nana for banana. He later said that it was delicious. This kid cracks me up.

Speaking of cracking up, sometimes when he thinks something is really funny, he'll say "That cracks me up". Which, of course, cracks me up. He says some of the funniest things!

And again, speaking of scrumptious, Hunter and I stopped at Einstein's this morning on the way home from dropping Maggie off at the groomers. He got his very own bagel thin and I snapped this pic of him while he was eating it. I love his little smile in this one!

First movie

Hunter and I went to see his first movie on Tuesday! I took him to see "Winnie the Pooh". I thought it would be a good option for his first time since it is only 63 minutes long. I think I enjoyed it as much as he did! It was really cute and I was so proud of him for sitting there and being such a good boy throughout the movie. He probably would have done even better if we didn't run out of popcorn. :) He wasn't a big fan of the previews and kept asking when Winnie the Pooh was going to come on but he was quickly entertained when the movie started. He sat on my lap most of the time but also wanted to sit in his own seat at times.

Last week we went on a playdate to a burger joint here in Austin that has a playscape and small splash pad for the kids. He liked the water, although I didn't know at the time that he was coming down with a little virus. :( He had a pretty high fever that afternoon and all though the next day.

While we were waiting for enough time to pass so he could take some meds before bedtime that night, he was hanging out on our bed and playing with my iPad. I have a kitty cat app that repeats what you say in a funny voice and Hunter was cracking up watching it. I said "yikes" when they kitty cat jumped and he thought it was hilarious....

He sounds horrible here, but it is only because he was laughing so hard. Luckily he was all better after a couple of days.

Here is a cute pic of Hunter and AJ from Father's Day that I just found when downloading the latest pics. I must have missed this one during my last "catch-up" post!

We're still here!

Wow, this post is way overdue to say the least. We've had a very busy past few weeks so I'll try to give the cliff note version of all of our activities so I don't put you to sleep. :)

In early June, AJ was traveling for work so Hunter and I flew to Indiana for a few days while he was away. This was Hunter's first trip as an official frequent flier and he did great in his own seat. We had a late flight on the way back so he ended up sleeping almost the entire way. I even got to read a magazine and listen to my iPod for the first time in a really long time. :)

While we were in Indiana, we crammed in quite a few things. We went to the Indianapolis Zoo one afternoon while Mimi was getting their house ready for a showing (if anyone is reading this and happens to be looking for a house on the south side of Indy, let me know! :) ) and Hunter loved it, of course. We even got to spend one night at Aunt Mitty's house while Mimi got the house ready for an open house.
I love this video of him playing piano with Mimi. He looks so proud of himself. :)

Eating corn on the cob for the first time -

Mimi came down at the very end of June and stayed for a week to visit for my birthday. While she was here, AJ's mom, two brothers, and their sons drove down from Connecticut to stay with us as well. We all kept busy and there was a lot of activity to keep Hunter busy and entertained. I was really bad about taking pictures, unfortunately, so I don't have much to post of their visits.

Playing with Mimi at the pool:
After my birthday dinner:Hunter finished up swimming lessons at the Y last week. He is quite the little fish and loves playing in the pool so I wanted to take advantage of his love for water. He was, in my opinion, the best little "swimmer" in the class and he loved every minute of it. It was a Mommy and Me class so I'll spare you the pictures of the two of us in the water, but here he is before his first class.


This boy continues to crack me up every day with the random things he does/says/picks up from others.
- He tells on himself. He'll tell you exactly where something is that he's put down or what he's done, even if he knows it's something that he shouldn't do.
- He moos or neighs quite loudly and repeatedly from the backseat whenever we pass a cow or horse in the car.
- He knows how to make calls on my phone, so don't be surprised if you receive a random call from me with a two year old on the other end!
- He loves "working out" with Daddy...see below...

- He put on a pair of my heels the other day and started stomping around the bathroom floor saying that he was wearing "tap dancing shoes". (Not sure where he learned that!)
- He also banged his head on my knee one day and said "Ouch. Double ouch". I started laughing and asked him where he learned that and he said that it is what Goofy says. (He still loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)

Here he is enjoying a cupcake at his friend Owen's 3rd birthday party the other day. He kept it relatively mess-free!

This is a pic that I just think is cute. We're at Chuy's and he's eating a push-up for the first time. He had about 4 licks and was over it.

Finally, he's now 2 1/4 years old so I measured and weighed him the other day. He's about 28 lbs and 35 inches. Such a big little guy!