Aly's Bridal Shower

Malinda and I hosted a bridal shower for Aly earlier this month at the Vintage House in downtown Overland Park.  The venue was perfect and so cute!  We had a fun time showering Aly with gifts and enjoying great food prepared by Malinda:-)  It won't be long before Aly and Donnie are saying their "I Dos"!

Bride to be!

Yummy desserts! 

So sweet...Donnie showed up with flowers for Aly

the moms with the cute couple

sisters

Aly and Mom

The youngest guest

Eva turns 5 months old

And another month has gone by!  This little girl is just growing so fast.  This month she continued to lose her good sleeping habits.  Waking once and sometimes twice during the night.  Naps two to three times during the day for an hour at max each time.  But will occasionally sleep a little longer.  She had a 2.5 hour nap once or twice.  Her bedtime has gotten to be a little earlier and is usually in bed between 7-7:30.  If she doesn’t take much of an afternoon nap then she is down even earlier.  She likes to be in her jumper for a little while and will tolerate her swing for a few minutes.  She is getting a lot better about being on her tummy and playing but she still isn’t rolling over.  Our parent educator said it’s because she has more to move…I liked that answer and will take it.  The little lady does have some weight on her but if she would get a little more than halfway over, gravity should work in her favor!  We now have the walker out for her in the kitchen.  Her feet don’t touch the ground but it’s just another place for her to sit while we are in the kitchen. 

Eva has been moving her mouth like she is talking, mimicking us when we are talking or singing to her.  The cutest thing is when Hunter says his ABCs, Eva will move her mouth with him.  I also, think it’s her favorite song because she always gets big smiles when singing it.  Eva loves to watch and study us while we eat.  I was going to hold her off until she was over 5 months to introduce food to her but I was starting to feel really bad watching her try to “eat” while we were eating so I decided to start her on rice cereal.  She does ok with it but doesn’t get as excited as I thought she would.  I am also hoping that the cereal will help her sleep a little better at night.  So far that’s not the case…

She loves to put things in her mouth, especially her clothes, my clothes, anything that is cloth and near her hands or face.  Along with liking to put everything in her mouth, she is starting to be ok with a pacifier.  Sometimes when we give it to her, she really calms downJ  She has even gone to sleep with it.  One night she didn’t want to nurse but wasn’t ready to be laid in bed, so she took her paci and held onto her blankie and peacefully went to sleep.  It was so sweet.  She enjoys listening to music and watching her “tv” in her bed. 
Can't wait to see what her 6th month brings:-)  More smiles and fun memories for sure!

July Picture Update

Little Eva

Eva with Grandma Peggy both wearing yellow

Eva's favorite way to be carried

sleeping baby

little ballerina 

Cole's 12th birthday.  This slide was awesome!  Hunter went down it once and that's all he wanted to do.  He had more fun squirting people with the water squirters.  Maybe next year he will like the slide more.
I went down a few times and the climb up was difficult!  

Hunter and Cole

Our dog loves popcorn...it's hard to eat in peace.  

Bow is such a patient dog.  He got his hair done by Hunter.

Playing trains at Gran and Gramps house

Watching big bubba play outside

We took Hunter to see Planes: Fire and Rescue.  For his birthday slide show this year, I had the theme song to Planes on it, when the movie started Hunter said "slideshow?!"
He thought he was going to watch his slideshow on the big screen:-) 

Liking her jumper.  Her feet don't really touch right now but she can still get moving in it.

Hunter and Grandpa Bob

Hunter playing soccer at Cole's house.  They live in our neighborhood so walking over there and playing is a great way for Hunter to burn some energy!

Hunter trying to get a goat to take his bottle at Deanna Rose, aka the Farm  to Hunter

Although Hunter loves looking at the animals at Deanna Rose, "digging" ranks a little higher.
He could play digger for hours.

Hunter driving the tractor.  

Eva and Gran

Practicing his golf swing 

"Fore"  Hunter loves to golf and surprisingly can hit the ball pretty well. 

Whenever Hunter is asked what he wants for dinner he will answer "lasagna".  It's a pretty random request but after days and days of answering this way I finally made him some.  It was the first thing he ate up!
 He loves it and to hear him say "Lasagna" makes me smile.

Loved helping Daddy wash the cars

So much fun

When Hunter hears an airplane, he has to stop and look for it

Digging up our yard with his little digger while Bow watches

Playing with his rocket launcher.  Though the toys is great fun, retrieving rockets from the neighbors or trying to get them out of trees takes a lot of energy.  

and away the rocket goes

Aly's Bachelorette Party

For Aly's bachelorette party we went to Grapes and Paints in Overland Park for a fun painting session.  A lot of friends have attended these classes and I've been very impressed with their paintings.  I didn't think mine would come out that great but it turned out fine.  Aly chose what we were going to paint and the instructor told us it was a medium level difficulty.  I'm glad Aly had confidence in her friends painting abilities;-)  It was a fun time and I would do it again some time.  

After painting, we headed over to one of her friends house for an old school slumber party.  Malinda and I didn't stay the night but from the pictures and what Aly said, the rest of the night was a lot of fun:-)

The Bachelorette 

The painting...ok, this isn't mine but mine looks just like it...kind of...;-)

sisters

Aly working her magic

fun time!

Aly and her maids;-)

Hunter turns 3 years old!

How can it be???  This little boy is growing up way to fast!  Starting in May and continuing through the summer our family and friends have a LOT of birthdays.  So when it came time to talk to Hunter about his birthday coming up, he didn't understand that it was finally going to be a day for him!  We would ask "who's birthday is next?" and he would go through a list of everyone in the family and add in some friends too.  A few days before his birthday party it finally sunk in for him that it was his day.   We were going shopping for some party supplies and kept saying its for Hunter's party so he knew it was coming up soon.  (side note...for the next few weeks after his birthday when we would go shopping he thought it was for his birthday...)

Hunter has grown so much in this past year.  He is one of the sweetest and caring boys I know.  Always giving a hug.  He even hugs our Parent as Teachers educator and she always says how it makes her day.  He loves to play and does very well keeping himself entertained.  His favorite toys include any kind of truck, plane or train and of course any kind of ball.  He does well with remembering if a toy was a gift and who gave it to him.  He loves to go on walks and enjoys car rides.  Hunter knows if we are taking a different route to a frequent visited location and will ask where we are going because he will be confused on our route.

We still have Hunter in his crib.  He has never tried to climb out so for now we will keep him there:-)  He has been doing really well with potty training but still has trouble going poo on the pot.  I know it will come in time but hopefully that's sooner than later.

Hunter has been a great big brother.  We couldn't have asked for Hunter to be any better about bringing Eva into our home.  He acts like she has always been here.  He will try to help out with bringing her toys, books, blankets, pacifiers...anything he thinks she needs.  Hunter knows that Eva's milk comes from me and will hold up a bottle to himself (his bellybutton) and say "I'll get Eva's milk" ;-)  it's sweet. He loves to lay next to her and really likes it if we put Eva is his bed with him.

We are so lucky to have one great little boy!  It's a blast to watch him grow and learn all about this world.  Many more fun memories will be made this next year!

Ice cream cone after his 3 year check up

Loves digging in the backyard

Me and Jeremy with our little 3 year old!

Hunter and Eva
(fun fact, Hunter and Eva's birthdays are on the same day of the week.
I figured that out when I was taking her weekly picture on his birthday)

Hunter's 3rd Birthday Celebration

This year for Hunter's birthday we celebrated at Shawnee Park.  It was perfect!  It was one of the warmer days we have had this summer but the wind and shade kept the heat bearable.  I was just glad it wasn't raining:-)  Every year when choosing a theme for Hunter's birthday, it gets narrowed down to sports or something else.  Well, that something else won again this year.  But I really think next year will be the year to have a sports themed party.  So this year we went with Disney Planes.  I like coming up with invitations and decorations.  But this year, the decorations were kept minimal because of the location and most of what I did come up with didn't get to be used because it was windy.  Oh well...Hunter enjoyed having the decorations at home;-)

Having the playground for the kiddos to play on was great.  We also brought other activities incase the kids wanted to do something else (bubbles, sidewalk chalk, balls).  We had pizza and cookie cake.  Something I learned was that at Hy-Vee you can get a cookie cake made just like the regular cake.  I thought it was pretty yummy:-)  And I didn't get a picture of it.  Bummer.

Hunter and his birthday banner.
(after the party, when Hunter was resting in his room I hung the banner up in the family room.
When he walked in he was so excited...it was pretty cute:-)

the birthday boy

swinging with dad

the kiddos playing with a new rocket launching toy

Hunter was so excited to get a "big dump truck"!

Hunter, Cole, Wes

Hunter and his new bike

Nora, Eva and Cally

Hunter and Wyatt