Hunter Boy

Dear Hunter,
You are the sweetest kid in the world. You give me all the hugs, kisses, and snuggling I can handle. I love it. You are really into imaginary play right now. You fly your Buzz Lightyear all over the house pretending that he's in a "wocket ship." You quote him all the time. Your little voice is so cute saying, "Buzz Lightyear, SPACE COMMAND!"
You've had to have some time outs lately because you aren't using a nice voice. Particularly with Kaylee. You've always thought that you were in charge and now you think so more than ever. At least once a day I hear, "KAYLEE, STOP THAT SCREAMING KAYLEE!" We have to talk about how Kaylee is a baby and doesn't have any words to use so that is why she cries. Granted she's a tad bit dramatic, but still. Then you have to apologize to Kaylee and go do a two minute time out. You're so stinkin' cute when you apologize it makes me want to cancel the time out- but I don't. You like to give Kaylee kisses on the head. You also like Kaylee to be quiet. You are less than amused when she's being loud while you're trying to watch Buzz.
You have been antagonizing Connor lately. One night at dinner Connor was refusing to eat and so we told him he couldn't have his treat after dinner. You watched him cry and pout while you ate every bite of your dinner. The second you were done with your dinner you asked for your treat. Daddy was so impressed that you ate your whole dinner that he obliged and you ate it very slowly in front of Connor saying, "MMMM. TREAT! Yummy!" I've never seen Connor so mad at you! We had to intervene once we figured out your game. You randomly run by Connor and steal a toy he's playing with. Every time you do it you have to apologize and go to time out, but you keep doing it and I think it is for the reaction that Connor gives you- which is even more dramatic than your sister.
We went to get haircuts last week. Connor got a really cute haircut but you would have nothing to do with it. You were so scared that you were flopping all over the place, tears rolling down your cheeks, sobbing...The hairdresser was worried that she was going to mess it up or hurt you so she told us that she wasn't going to cut your hair until I brought Daddy with us to hold you down. You're going to try again tomorrow. We have to find a way to get it cut because we're going to Aunt Chelsea's wedding on Saturday.
I love you Honey! You are so funny, so cute, and so snuggly.
Mommy

When you aren't antagonizing your brother...you're very good at loving on him.

Hunter the fisherman!!!

I love it when you put your face in your hands like that. You've done it for as long as I can remember.

Connor Bug

Dear Connor Bug,

I love you so much. Lately you've been doing some really cute things. You've been taking good care of Kaylee. You try to feed her, you bring her toys, you roll her over if she needs help, you  yell at me to hurry when "Key sad." You try your hardest to make us laugh all the time, and most of the time you succeed. You are growing out of snuggling. It is making me so sad. Every night when I lay down with you I ask if you want to snuggle and you say no. Although, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning you come crawl into my bed and snuggle up with me. I'm hoping it's just a phase and I still have a few years of snuggling left in you.

One day at the park Grammy was wearing her sunglasses. You were staring at her so hard. You were right in her face, and mumbling under your breath. Finally, you took off her sunglasses and then said, "Oh! There's Grandma!"

Tonight you told Grandpa Steve that kissing him was "yucky" because of his beard. You then gave him a kiss on his cheek.

You have so much attitude lately. You test us everyday. Today we were at the art show in the park and you were looking at stuffed animals. I told you that you could have one pick and you wanted two. You kept showing me and saying two picks. I finally told you that you could pick one or you could have none. What did you do? You threw both of the animals on the ground under the vendors table. Oh, I was so mad. You got sent to the stroller for a time out. You have strong opinions and you do everything in your power to make sure that they are voiced. You stomp your feet in anger. You flop. You pout. You cry. You are a typical two year old. But even through the trying moments it is hard not to laugh because you are so dang cute! You never stay in a mood for long. We only have a few episodes a day and they are short lived. You are a really good boy. We get a lot of compliments on your behavior when we go places. I'm thankful for that. I can't imagine going through the terrible two's if you were not a good boy!

Your new sayings are "OH NO!" and "That's cute." You tell me that the dresses I wear are cute, that I'm cute, which clothes in the stores are cute, Kaylee is cute...it's all cute. Probably because you've been hearing me tell you for two years how cute you are. I wanted you to get your hair cut the other day which is always a big ordeal. I told you we were going to go get our hair cut, it would look cute, and then you could get ice cream. It worked like a charm. You endured the scary haircut so that you could look cute! You showed everyone how cute your hair was when your haircut was over.

We've taken you to the water park twice this year. You love it so much. You want to go down the big slide with us constantly. We take you over and over again. Each time you love it more. You watched Uncle Wade go down the drop off slide and then you said, "OK...my turn!" We had to convince you that you were too little for the drop off slide. You swim until you're so cold that you're shaking and we have to make you go warm up. Then as soon as you eat a cookie or two and warm up you're begging us to take you back into the water! It's a lot of fun taking you to the water!

I love you so much buddy!
Mommy

Connor and Daddy just getting off of the slide...look how cold you look!

Feeding the hungry lion!

Looking/Acting more like Uncle Stu all the time!

Daddy's Birthday

Dear Connor and Hunter,
I'm making up for lost time with this letter. Your Dad's birthday was weeks ago, but I haven't gotten a chance to tell you about it. We planned a surprise party for him. However, I'm not good at holding back good news so I let the cat out of the bag the night before the party. I wanted you to be excited for Daddy's birthday so we bought Buzz party decorations, Buzz party blowers, and I made Toy Story Alien cupcakes. You were very excited by the time Dad got home. You sang Happy Birthday and you ate until your belly couldn't stick out another inch. The best part was how excited you were to help Daddy open his presents. You did a great job helping and got excited about every one. The most exciting gift for you was the fishing pole that Daddy got from his mom and dad. You wanted to play with that so bad, so when everyone left...Daddy let you play with it. We got some great pictures! The fishing pole was heavy for you so it looked like you were reeling in a huge fish. Plus, you wanted to wear sunglasses so you could look like Uncle Wade. You're pretty convinced that sunglasses go on top of your head thanks to your Uncle Wade. They are cute no matter how you wear them so I don't mind, however I was  able to get you to wear the glasses for the pictures. Overall, it was a very successful birthday.
I love you!
Mommy

Sweet Potatoes Uncle Wade...NOW!

Dear Kaylee,
You couldn't be any more like your mother if you tried. Daddy always says that if I'm in a bad mood I need to be fed. You are very much the same. However, you also get into a bad mood when the food runs out. Every time you have the last bite of food or the last suck of a bottle you cry your little heart out. It isn't an angry cry. It's a cry that lets us know your heart is truly breaking. Besides when you're hungry or when you've finished a meal you are always in a good mood. You are never grumpy. You laugh and giggle your way through the day. You've just found your voice and now you squeal with delight. You've been able to sit up on your own for almost an entire week. You are very proud of yourself. You also moved to a big car seat today. You loved sitting up tall. You're very strong and you are so wiggly. Everyone who holds you only makes it a few minutes before they pass you off because their arms need a break! Grandma sneaks you licks of frosting, ice cream, and anything she thinks you have to have. You love every second of it. Your brothers think you are hilarious and you think they are hilarious, so once a day at least I hear you three laughing hysterically at each other. You're trying to be a thumb sucker. You still have no teeth, but your getting more hair by the day. You HATE Green Beans...more on that later. You're starting to like Elmo. You love to swim. You love when we pretend to throw you in the air or drop you-we never take our hands off you though. You love having your diaper changed. You love changing your outift. You love everything about your day, except for being hungry or running out of food!
I love you so much. You are such a bright light in the day.

A little blurry because Kaylee moves so fast... but Uncle Wade is feeding her sweet potatoes. Yummy!

Uncle Wade set the spoon down so Kaylee decided she would help herself.

She'd prefer if she could just have a continuous drip!

Kaylee's reaction when Uncle Wade isn't fast enough...

Kaylee's reaction when she finds out there are no more sweet potatoes.