Friday night Kelly hosted a Pampered Chef party. I got to snuggle this little cutie. She looks just like Emma did when she was her age. It is incredible. Oh, and if you're interested in purchasing Pampered Chef stuff, I'm doing a catalog party and you can make orders online.
We went to Winter Wonderland- The Coleman Collection. This is included in our Children's Museum Membership. The display plus a whole lot more was at Coleman's Nursery, but it kept burning down. They moved it to its new location and it does not have a lot. Hunter enjoyed the "choo-choo" and chased it around the track.
We then walked down the street to the museum. In the toddler section, Hunter found the abacus and a bucket and decided to do some math.
This weekend was gorgeous. We definitely didn't want to waste it being inside. We took a mile and a half walk around a lake near our house.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of family and friends. Hunter was very a little traumatized by all the faces and people picking him up. I can't remember the last time we had so much trouble putting him to bed. He screamed and cried every time we tried to lay him down even remotely awake. We can normally lay him down wide awake, and he might play in his crib a little bit, but then goes to sleep on his own. I may have crawled in his crib with him to try to snuggle him... but he wasn't dead asleep when I got out and started the process all over again. He has since recovered. Even with that, Thanksgiving was awesome with amazing people.
Can you find Ryleigh?
Molly was pretty easy to find
I downloaded the Adobe Photoshop Express for my iPhone. I attempted to edit these pictures on there. I swear they look better on my phone than they do all big on the blog.
-Carl. He is my rock, my best friend, and the love of my life. He always thinks about what is best for our family. He has worked so hard (and continues to) so we can be where we are now.
-Hunter. I know people say it all the time, but I can't remember what life was like before he came along. What did we do before we had him? He is such a joy and truly amazes us each and every day. I was rocking him the other night (when he actually fell asleep on me, this is unheard of these days) and realized just how big he has gotten. He is almost too long to snuggle comfortably on me. I just love him.
I'm thankful for my little man... who is officially 17 months old!
-Our family. We may be dysfunctional, but I love them. My sisters are my best friends and I cannot wait for Hunter to have a sibling so that they can be best friends (one day... when they're old enough to appreciate each other, haha).
-Our friends... who technically fall in the family category, because they are family. They keep us sane and totally understand if we ever have to cancel last minute. They offer to do things for us without expecting anything in return (and same goes on our end).
-My coworkers. They are so supportive and are amazing. I learn things all the time from them. They are professional and passionate about what they do (and super knowledgeable).
-Mrs. Cathy. For all that she does for our family and for taking super care of Hunter.
-Having jobs. I know some people are having a hard time finding jobs, and I am very thankful that we are both able to have jobs.
-Many, many other things. I'm thankful for the life we are leading and those in it!
One of the first names Hunter learned to say (other than mom and dad) was Emma. Again, we can't believe that she is already 3! Her and Molly were born 8 days apart. We love Emma's spunk and independent personality. She had her party at the Orb and everyone had a blast. I didn't get a lot of pictures because Carl and I were getting our workout jumping around with Hunter.
Here is what I did get:
In the toddler area
He decided he needed to go on the big kid slide
That cake was a little piece of heaven. Happy birthday Emma!
Carl is taking a composition class this "mod". He is writing a persuasive paper on one of my favorite subjects... sign language. I was super excited telling him that he could interview me for his paper. That idea was vetoed. Boo. Anyways... I was helping him find some good sources to use for his paper when I came across this lovely file (from the ASHA website... our governing board):
I think that every time a parent tells me that their friend's, sister's, ex-husband's former wife's son didn't talk because of sign language, I might just hand them this article. Just joking, but I wish I could. Maybe I will just say there has never been a study to show this to be true.
If you didn't know, I love sign language. Hunter signs all the time along with saying the word. He signs "baby" when he sees baby Alyssa.... I don't even remember teaching him that sign (he probably picked it up from Baby Signing Time).
Anyways... if you ever want tips or information on sign language, I will be more than happy to give you lots of information! My goal is to become certified in ASL (one day).
I just love when Hunter crosses his legs in his car seat. I think it is even funnier when he has his juice between them.
Like in my last iPics post, I'm still trying new recipes. This week it was potato soup. The worst part was cutting up 5 large potatoes into 1/2 inch squares. The rest was a breeze. Next time I will not use all purpose seasoning because that is what I tasted the most. Still pretty good for my first attempt.
Just relaxing on the couch, watching some Peep.
On the way to the zoo... where we rode the train (he loved it) and we saw all sorts of animals, like the monkey below.
Hunter was cracking up over these monkeys! They were fascinated by Hunter's rock and would try to grab it from him (obviously, they are behind glass and can't).
I am just amazed at Hunter's development and little personality. He is starting to become his own little person and it has been a joy to watch. He is starting to answer simple wh- questions. He is labeling everything and will ask, "That?" when he doesn't know what something is. Occasionally I hear, "What that?", but not as often as I would like.
When we were headed to the zoo today, I asked him what animals we were going to see. He answer, "Raff." (Giraffe) When asked what else, he said, "Ooh-oooh Ahhh-ahh." (Monkey). I again asked what else, and he said, "Moo! Roar!" (Cow, lion/tiger). On the way home, I asked what he saw, and he would say the name/sound of the an animal he did see (I asked him for more animals 3 or 4 times).
He is labeling pictures of familiar people. We have a few frames with multiple pictures and he will go through the people he knows. He especially likes to name Dada and Mama.
When we go to The Little Gym, he loves seeing his friends. He doesn't always play with them (there is too much other stuff to play ON), but he definitely knows when something is not right (especially when someone subs for Miss Sarah... which luckily isn't often). He has gotten really good at the beam expander independently and when we spot him, he walks one foot in front of the other forwards and backwards by himself on the balance beam itself. He tries to forward roll on his own, but hasn't quite mastered it yet. He loves any type of rotation, whether it is on the floor or the bars. He is also participating in opening and closing circle every time, shaking the shakers, hitting them on the ground when it is time during the song, cleaning them up, and hitting the floor for the closing song. I cannot express what an awesome experience it is for Hunter to go to TLG, and I am honestly not saying that because I worked there.
There are some other tid bits that I wanted to include, but can't think of them. I will have to start writing them down. Oh well. Here are some videos of Hunter.
We try to send Daddy a video every night before bed (since Carl has his new school and work schedule). We also call him (and pretty soon will be able to FaceTime with him once he gets his new phone in December).
This is one of our bedtime favorites. Hunter likes to "read" along.
Walking on the beam expander (from a few weeks ago)
Being Miss Sarah's helper can be a dangerous job (haha). For the record, he did not get hurt and he didn't hit the orange base like it looks.
Last week we celebrated Molly's 3rd birthday. I cannot believe she is already 3! I love her little OCD self. At her party, Molly would not share her toys with her two sisters, but if Hunter came up to play with them, she would say, "Ahh, here Hunter. You want to play with _______?"
Hunter was invited to a friend's (from TLG) birthday party this past Saturday. He really enjoyed playing in her playroom with his friends. He also ate like we never feed him, haha.
Sunday was Molly's birthday party. This is just one of the many cute pictures from that day. Molly and Ryleigh wanted to hold Hunter's hand on our little walk. More pictures to follow in its own post.
I found this recipe on Pinterest. The bacon took a little longer to cook than what it said, but maybe if I had used thinner bacon (but next time I think I'm going to use turkey bacon to be healthier). I took this picture to send as a joke, "Heart attack in a glass dish" haha. It was good though, and I'm not a big meat person.
Don't mind Hunter... he likes to dip anything in ketchup, even green beans.
Hunter is able to walk on the beam expander all by himself now. It is amazing to watch! Next is the regular balance beam.
We have been trying to take Koal for a daily walk lately. Hunter likes to hold the leash. Luckily the leash is long and he holds the end and I hold higher up.
Drinking from a big boy cup.
Hunter... it's what's for dinner.
Daddy and Hunter built their first fort this weekend. They told me, "No girls allowed!" I still snapped a few pictures.
We had dinner and hung out at Kelly and Harry's house Sunday afternoon/evening. Emma wanted to push Hunter in the swing. Hunter thought it was hilarious.
One of the mother's of a former student of mine from The Little Gym contacted me asking if she could interview me for an article. Susan writes articles about different careers for people to use as a reference when trying to decide what to do with their lives. Where was this when I was going to college?! I changed my major quite a few times and my undergrad and graduate degree are in two different areas.
Susan wanted to write an article on a speech-language pathologist. I was honored and agreed to answer her questions. I love my job and hope others find my answers helpful in deciding if this is the right career path for them.
