Hunter Turns 3!

Hunter had a great Curious George birthday!  We made these super cute monkey cupcakes (super easy- 'Nilla Wafers and black writing gel).

We had a bunch of his toddler friends over on the morning of his birthday for a cute little party.  Turns out an hour and a half is PLENTY when you have this many 2 & 3 year olds together...  haha :)

It was warm enough for them all to play out back together, too!  Hooray for January in Georgia!  Later that evening, we had cake and opened presents with family.  Thank you to aunts & uncles and grandparents who sent him gifts! :)

January Fun & Joe's Birthday!

Sawyer and Hunter wanted to go camping, so we set up the tent in the back yard!  They used it as their play room for three days (it was awesome)!  Even had a boy from a few doors down come join them in the mornings.  It was super cool watching them haul their toys and blankets out there.

We visited our buddies at the aquarium again (we love that place & don't get sick of it)!  Say hello to the sea turtle & one of the lion fish!

Hunter had his BFF, T, over to play.  I made them some cloud dough & they loved it!   Cloud dough:  6 cups flour, 1 cup baby oil.  Didn't know what to expect since I found it online, but others say it's very similar to Moon Sand- gets a super fine sandy texture, but holds it's shape when you press it together (so you can build castles, smush it into cookie cutters, etc.).  Hunter played with this stuff for several hours, several days in a row, before I finally cleaned it all up (and sucked the mess out of the carpet for a long, long time)!

Joe's birthday!!!  Joe's birthday was Sunday January 29th.  He requested a four layer cake.  I repeat:  FOUR ACTUAL LAYERS.  Four separate, full, 9x13 cakes, stacked up.  The corners were tricky to frost, but I did it! 

Happy birthday to Joe!  Four separate cakes, 3 flavors of chocolate frosting (buttercream, milk chocolate, chocolate fudge).  It was a beautiful monster!  We had two families over to sing happy birthday & share the monster cake with us.  It was a good night! :)

I MADE something!

I've been itching to try some woodworking for YEARS.  The stars finally aligned, since we're not moving anymore, plus I had an actual, functional need for the home.  I REALLY wanted a forward facing bookshelf for the boys' room.  I was so sick of regular shelves, with all the tipping and slipping, and kids only being able to see the spines (which mean nothing to 2 year olds)!  This way they can see the fronts & get interested, grab them themselves, and PUT THEM AWAY themselves.  I'm SO HAPPY with how it turned out.  I don't think I have all the right tools to keep up the hobby right now, but it's nice to know I could make something turn out according to the plans, and not just wreck $30 of lumber while experimenting! :)

It has already made a difference in just a single day.  Hunter will go grab books so much more often, since he sees the fronts & they spark his interest.  This investment is making me VERY happy!  If you're interested in making your own, these are the plans I used:

http://ana-white.com/2011/10/book-or-magazine-ladder-shelf

Christmas: Part 2

After the fabulous time we had at Joe's side of the family in Oshkosh, we headed down to West Bend to be with my side.  Here's Hunter with his awesome Uncle Zach!

Sawyer with his Uncle Mike & Aunt Jenny

The cash register is a HIT.  He wouldn't even open other presents for a looooong time!

We all met at my cousin Deb's house for a big family gathering.  Needless to say, once they saw the pinball machine, they didn't do anything else.  Hunter was actually really good at it- he understood it & had a great time playing!

Checkers with Uncle Mike.

Lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with youuuuuuu!  But there was no snow in Wisconsin, so it was a horse-drawn wagon ride.  Still cool. :)  My boys with my oldest brother, J.P.

Hibachi for dinner!  My parents had never been to one, so it was fun. :)

Sawyer isn't scared of Jackson at ALL.  Love that he's not too sissy of a city kid yet.  ;) 

Uncle Mike & Hunter visiting Dusty, the pony.  He is soooooo fuzzy in the winter, it's hilarious!

COWBOYS!!!  Thanks for the ride, Grandma!

Merry Little Christmas

We had an awesome time at the Kindt Family Christmas in Oshkosh.  We opened gifts Christmas Eve together, since Christmas morning was church and we didn't want to work around it (either everyone getting up insanely early, or making poor kids wait until after church).  It actually worked out really well:  everyone looks nice in the pictures, and no one's complaining about being hungry for breakfast, since we just finished a big dinner. :)

Sawyer's been asking for his own scriptures for a few months.  They were even the very first thing on his Christmas wish list.  He's such a good boy!  We got him his own scriptures, with a case, and a marking pencil set.  He's super proud to have his own!

"Thank you, Grandma!"  Kristen got him a battery powered Thomas for his wooden train tracks.  His only other battery powered train broke a few months ago.

Hunter loooooooves his soccer jammies that I sewed for all three boys.  He wouldn't even let me take them off for going on the airplane home.  He screams like crazy when they have to come off just for a diaper change.  He has now had them on for nearly three straight days (aside from the airplane, we've only been home anyway, so there's been no reason to fight it)! :)

Grandkids on Christmas morning (except for brand new baby Rosie)!  Sawyer (5), Hunter (2), Jared (2) and Lincoln (1).  Hunter was in a very odd mood the entire trip, where he acted super sad whenever any attention was brought to him.  It coincided with being sick & recovering, too, so it was probably some of each.

Santa still filled our stockings Christmas morning, even though we'd already opened gifts the night before!

Sawyer with his first girl cousin, baby Rosie!  She was only one month old.

Love December in Georgia because...

...My Azaleas are in BLOOM.  I had no idea when I planted the two bushes in back that we'd get year round flowers.  GORGEOUS!

...The boys can still play outside after school.  Without COATS many days! 

We can go to our favorite park on a sunny Saturday!  Overlook Park in Sandy Springs:



The view opposite the playground at our favorite park.  So pretty.

Sawyer and his BFF Sierra, who came into town for the weekend.

Joe climbing a retaining wall, just to prove he can.

Hunter being spun around by Mr. Joe (Sierra's dad).

Hunter had a cough that kept getting worse during our park day.  He eventually crashed.  On the astroturf.  Under the picnic blanket.  :)

Graham Houses

One of our favorite Christmastime traditions is to decorate our individual graham cracker 'gingerbread' houses.  I build them during the day, so they're super dry & sturdy, ready for little ones to decorate by evening.  This year, Sawyer and I tried building one larger house, which turned out slightly crooked, but Sawyer was still very excited to decorate it!

I was hoping Hunter would be the age to get 'into' it a little more than he did, but he just wanted to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat...  I showed him an example of what to do, hoping he'd follow along and stick another candy on somewhere.  He picked up a candy, asked me to open it (a lifesaver), and I handed it to him, asking "Where should this one go?"  He held it up, looked at it, replying "Ummm.... In my MOUTH!"  *CHOMP*

Ta-da!  Left to right:  Hunter, Sawyer, Carrie, Joe

Tree!

The boys faces were so sweet putting up Christmas decorations. :)  Sawyer looks so big to me in these pictures! 

Hunter spelling out the JOY blocks (they didn't stay in front of the tv, though...)

Ta-Da!