Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving we ventured down south with this guy.  It's typically a five hour drive but even with leaving in midday it turned into over five hours.  I lost count at 4 hours when this little guy had had enough.  No nap, snack, toy, or even a couple of breaks to let him walk around would do.  Enough was enough, he screamed!  So we stopped at the gas station and loaded up his sippy cup with milk.  He fell asleep - literally - five minutes before we pulled into the driveway.  Just as I predicted.

After making pink salad for our Thanksgiving festivities, we all ventured outside so Hunter could play on the deck.

He swang...

He moved furniture...

He sat...

He got down...

He executed the most adorable baby face ever...

And he sat some more to show off his awesome photogenic skills.

Meanwhile, Korey's mom smiled because she loved watching Hunter play and Korey slipped into his "I'm at my momma's house" coma.  The kind of coma that involved hanging out in the recliner after he ate lots of turkey later that day.  And the kind of coma that involved just that sense of peace you get when you're at your momma's house.

Korey's mom smiled some more as she pushed Hunter in the swing.  We/she still doesn't know her Grandma name yet.  It was Nana but that's what Hunter calls a banana.  We'll get there!

Then Korey found the sit and spin thing on the deck.  Hunter didn't quite understand the sit part.  He was more content just to push the buttons that played the music.

Korey borrowed my camera and took some family photos.

Korey told us to look off in the distance.  I think we're checking out the fence.

Since Hunter doesn't sit still he only lasted on the deck for so long before he figured out that there was more to explore beyond it.  After this photo my battery died and then we ate our Thanksgiving lunch so insert feasting photos here.

The next day we went outside again.  The deck was our favorite place to hang out.

I have no words for this photo!  Korey just told me to take a picture of them facing the brick wall.

AMAZING!!  We are all three smiling.  You can't tell that Hunter is starting to squirm either!  Family photo 2011!!

Since Hunter had had enough of family photo time he went back to exploring.  He loved touching the solar lights in the yard.

We showed him the cat up in the tree.

Later that day we went to a nearby park so Hunter could get even more outdoor time.

He slid down the slide with Korey and then we let him slide down by himself on a smaller slide.  Since it took both of us to manage that I don't have any pictures.

That wraps up our Thanksgiving 2011!

16 Months

This little guy doesn't sit still.  As you can see in these photos he is constantly on the move.  He says, "Hi" to everyone.  Everyone.  And he keeps saying, "Hi" until you say it back.  It's so funny to see how people will be in a fog but will look up when they see that Hunter wants their attention.

And he says, "Hey" alot.  It means "I want that...Give me what you're eating...Hand me that remote control/cell phone/car keys."  We've seen a few tantrums lately, too.  I thought it was too soon for that.  Last night in the middle of a crying fit, Korey went to get him some milk while I sat with him.  When Korey handed him the milk he stopped crying long enough to say, "Doh" and then started drinking his milk.  We think "Doh" is his way of saying "Thank you."  But it was just funny to see him have manners in the middle of a crying storm.  We think his crying fit was just a plot to sleep in our bed.  As soon as he drank his milk he turned over in our bed and went right to sleep.  We're on to you Hunter!

One of his weird things he does is look at what's above him.  Last night as I was rocking him before bed he noticed the fan wasn't on.  So he looked up and pointed at it and started saying a word.  I figured out he wanted it on.

I've been trying to teach him some sign language so that he can communicate with us.  Right now we're working on "All done" and "Please."  He'll communicate "All done" most of the time if I prompt him, but "Please" is another story.

Here's his sweet, but blurry face.

Happy 16 months to the little dude that can make us irritated and laugh all in the same minute!

PB Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today is Wednesday and you need a cookie to get through the rest of the week. 

Oh, that's just me?

The good news is that these are good.  As in moist with every sweet thing you like to eat all rolled up into a cookie.  The bad news is that these are gone.  As in we ate them all.  We would have had more but we decided to share them with someone.

Speaking of sharing with someone, I like to be nice like that.  And when I do decide to share, I have to find the PERFECT recipe.  Something they wouldn't normally eat that would just wow their tastebuds.  (Darn the need to be perfect!)  When I saw this recipe I knew it was a winner!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The only changes I made were to double it because we like to make our cookies BIG.

Cousins

Saturday Hunter's favorite cousin was in town...Brandon!  His parents had come up to Dallas for a wedding so Uncle Kevin and Brandon came and hung out with us. 

Here, Hunter is checking out Brandon.  I know Brandon felt right at home with all the toys to play with.  Hunter was just fascinated with watching Brandon play.

Brandon thought all of Hunter's toys were cool. 

Then Korey tried to play hide-and-seek with Brandon.  Here he is sneaking up on him.  Brandon wasn't a total fan.  He would say, "Scared, scared."

After the boys played we went out and ate dinner.  When we got home I gave both boys a bath (how do moms of twins do it?) and then they played some more.

Hunter found one of my stretchy exercise band things that you use around your legs and Korey took it and made it into a Rambo sling.  See the sippy cup hanging off the back?

Here's Uncle Kevin with his favorite nephew!

"Hi"

Sunday afternoon I took this little guy out for a couple of errands.  As we were heading into one store, a female worker was coming in behind us with some shopping carts.  When Hunter saw her, he said "Hi."  So simple and so sweet.  He says "Hi" or "Hey" to anyone he sees when we go out.  When we go to the grocery store, I won't know there is someone behind me until he says, "Hi" to them.

But here's the point...after Hunter said "Hi" to her she smiled and said "Hi" back.  Then I overheard her telling a coworker that a little baby said Hi to her and it made her day.  One word made her day.  I don't know who she was or what her story is but a sincere word made her day.

When I was at A&M it was typical for Corps guys to say "Howdy" to you as they passed by.  Sometimes other students took up that tradition, too, but it was mostly kept intact by the Corps.  And just hearing it made me step a little lighter as I walked across campus.

Imagine how many people's days we can make, just by saying "Hi" to them.  It shows we care about them even though we may not know them.

15 months and already God is using him to teach me so much!  Love this little dude!

Sunday Morning

Sunday morning I stayed home with Hunter while Korey went to church.  He's had a runny nose and I thought it best to keep him out of the nursery.  Since I work during the week, we don't get alot of quality playtime.  So we spent that time just playing.

His newest love is our broom.  He loves to push and drag it across our kitchen floor.  It's not like I sweep our floor every day (even though, ahem, I should) so it's just funny to see how attached he is to it.

Then we decided to watch some TV and that lasted all of ten seconds.  He prefers the remote.  Or the car keys or my cell phone.  Did I mention he's managed to conference call my mom?  Didn't even know I had conference calling!

Then after playing in his room for a little bit, we played peek-a-boo.

Whhhheeeerrreee's Hunter?

There he is!

He also spent time watching our dogs outside.  I know this picture isn't very bright but if I had some photo editing software (Hi Santa!) I could fix it!

The Table

This is my new Sunday dinner tradition.

No mail on the table, none of Hunter's recent school art projects, or other random things are gracing this table.  Just simple loveliness.

And I even folded the napkins, semi-candlestick style.

Doesn't this table make you feel invited?

Here's to peace and order are being restored in our house.

Cayman Islands - Part 3

(I'm detailing our vacation in the Cayman Islands.  You can catch up with Part 1 and Part 2.)

After the dolphins, our bus driver brought us here.  Behind this wall lies a bar....

...and behind the bar is this! A black limestone formation. Don't blink because you might miss it! The back deck of the bar overlooked this. The patrons sure looked thrilled to see us (insert sarcasm). We snapped a quick picture and went on our way. I guess Korey and I can say we've been to Hell and back! haha

Our last stop was the turtle farm where we saw all sorts of beautiful turtles.  These are between 60 to 70 years old.

Look at that gorgeous shell!  They change colors as the turtles get older.

The tour guide/trainer guy standing behind Korey let us hold some turtles. 

While you are holding it you can feel the shell expand as they breathe.

We walked around some more and looked in all the different tanks of turtles.  When we were done we sat outside to wait for our bus and were entertained by these little guys.

That night Korey and I had our last dinner by the beach.  I tried to capture the beautiful colors but it's blurry.

The next morning we boarded our flight and headed back to work and reality.  It was an awesome trip and we are so glad we got to go to a place we might never have vacationed in.

Cayman Islands - Part 2

Back to the Caymans....see Part 1 if you missed it.


This is us....getting rest and relaxation.  I had a friend comment about how long we slept that first full day.  Let me just say that I made us get up when I realized what time it was.  That's how tired we were.  And I dont' think there was a time difference while we were there.  Maybe one hour.  I wasn't keeping track of time.

We ate!  Every night we would pick a different dessert.  Our favorite was sticky toffee pudding.  I don't think I'd ever had it but it was soooo good.  So good in fact that we ordered it again on our last night.  And then the kitchen sent mine out cold so I sent it back.  Nicely, of course.  Then they gave us two more sticky toffee puddings.  Four in all!  I only ate my one while, ahem, someone else ate two.

This was one of Korey's dessert choices one night.  It's banana cream pie with ice cream and a banana that's been caramelized with sugar.  I wish I had gotten to taste it.

After 3 days of R&R my Type A kicked in and I was ready to venture beyond the hotel.  We booked a trip to swim with the dolphins followed by a trip to the turtle farm.  One of the other fun things to do in the Caymans is to swim with stingrays but I had experienced that previously as an excursion on a cruise.  Korey didn't want to do that either...it made him nervous since Steve Irwin died.

This is the area where we got to swim with the dolphins.  They literallly gave us a lifejacket and told us to jump in the water.  That was the scariest part!  We were able to make them dance, they swam under our hands so we could feel their skin and we gave them a kiss.  Their mouth is very hard!  Best of all, we were able to grab their fins and go on a short belly ride up to the dock.  One of the dolphins had a shark bite scar on its side.  The trainer said that she had been a rescue.  All the rest were born in captivity, I believe.  At the end of our time they had the dolphins do the Sea World type jumps.  So cool to be in the water just feet away from them!

They took pictures of us while we were doing all of this and of course the photographer captured pics of me making weird/surprised faces because one of the dolphins snuck up on me!  Hahaha we didn't buy that photo!

Here is a photo of us with one of the dolphins.  Our hands are underneath like we are holding her up.

If you look below where the guy is standing you can see a few dolphin heads peeping out of the water. They were taking a break with the trainer.

After the dolphins we headed over to the turtle farm so I snapped a quick picture of the town around us.

Then our bus driver decided to take us here!

To be continued...