The Birthday Boy!

Hunter is officially 5 years old! It has still not completely sunk in for me yet. We had a fun day together as a family yesterday. The boys chose their breakfasts and then when they were done Hunter opened his presents. The boys went off to play with Hunter's new Spiderman toys and then in the afternoon we watched How to Train Your Dragon. It was a really great day!

Hunter is my little helpful boy who is always wanting to please. He is a great joy in our family and I love that he is such a wonderful big brother. Yesterday morning he woke me up at 4am to see if it was time to get up. I walked him back to bed and as I was walking back into my room and saw that the clock said after 4, I laid in bed and remembered that 5 years ago I was up at 4am pacing the house waiting for my contractions to get 5 minutes apart so I could wake the rest of the house up. It was one of those happy warm thoughts for me and a really good way to start the day.

Wearing his new train conductor hat!

Brayden playing and waiting patiently for Hunter to finish his breakfast.

Opening some books....

he needed to know the title of each one.

Yea!!! A Spiderman shirt!

A Spiderman guy!

I love this look. Mom you already know what it is, duh!

And to go with the Spiderman theme.....this was his most wanted toy at Target. He was thrilled to have Spidermans vehicles, and he was one happy little boy for the day!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope that everyone else did too. Tomorrow I will wake up and have a 5 year old and I don't think it has completely sunk in. It still amazes me how fast the last five years has gone and how it still seems like just yesterday that I was in the hospital becoming a mom for the first time. I can say that I have enjoyed every moment of the last five years and am looking very forward to this next year with him.

We have had quite the weather this week and I am happy to say we enjoyed it! We got out everyday to play in the beautiful snow and the kids had a blast. Hunter thinks that because it snowed it was Christmas and we had to explain that Thanksgiving was first. Both Brayden and Hunter had to eat the snow, roll around in it and then we made sure we went sledding in it. Here are some pictures.

Brotherly Love

Today was a busy day getting lots of errands ran so we can spend the weekend at home putting our Christmas decorations up. Yes, I said it! We LOVE Christmas in this house and the kids are getting so excited. While we were on our way to Costco, Hunter told me that I had two kids and that I had him so he could grow up and be a great big brother to Brayden. He told me how he was always going to protect Brayden and love him.

These are the moments that I cherish but also reminders to me how special my boys are. There are times that I would love to have more kids but it's an inner battle. I am already giving so much of myself to these 2 precious little boys and it would be unfair to them to spread myself even thinner. I was reminded as I walked into Costco and I had a little hand in each of my hands that this is enough. I am thankful for my two sweet little boys and I am thankful for my wonderful husband who has given me such a wonderful gift to be able to stay home and be with them. The best thing is that I get to enjoy these sweet and tender moments with the boys and there is no price that can be put on that!

Hunter helped me today to remember all the things that I have to be thankful for as we move into this next week of Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope it is shared with friends and family!

I did say in my last post that I would try and post some pics from this summer so here are a couple from July. I took over 600 pictures in July and so I just chose 9 to upload :)

A fun filled day playing with friends for Kati's birthday!

Hunter wanted to change Brayden's diaper and dress him. I was cracking up so hard but was able to grab the camera and get a couple pics.

Chasing each other around!

On the last day of camp they put up the huge slip and slide. Hunter was in heaven and I couldn't get him off.

Visit to The Farm to see all the animals.

Brayden was determined to catch and hold this chicken. Thankfully for the chicken, she was faster than him.

But he was so happy he got to hold the baby pigs. We finally had to tell him enough because he kept picking them up. As soon as he would put one down he was off grabbing another.

Hunter really wanted to do it too, but was a little scared. When it was time for us to go I told Hunter that he would probably be upset if we left and he hadn't held one.

He mustered up the courage and grabbed one of the piglets. It was all he could talk about for the rest of the week. He told me he was glad that he decided to do it.

Raking Leaves

After I posted the Halloween pics the other night I realized that I hadn't posted anything since June. We were so busy this summer doing fun things that to sit down at the computer and post pics was the last thing on my mind. Now that the days have slowed down and it is getting darker I am having more time inside to do these things. I will try to remember in the coming weeks to post some of the fun things that we did this summer.

I spent today at my Grandma's house and it was time to rake the leaves from the two big maple trees in the back yard. We worked very hard for most of the day and then at the end the boys wanted a BIG pile so they could jump in the leaves. I raked a big pile many many times so they could jump their little hearts out. I am amazed at how big they have gotten and it really hit just how much they are turning into such fun and wonderful little boys, not baby's anymore. Hunter asked on the way home tonight how much longer until it's his birthday and I told him 23 more wake ups. To him this is FOREVER but for me it will be here tomorrow. I can't believe that I am going to have a 5 year old! He is truly amazing and a complete little sponge who asks the most surprising questions and teaches me how little I really know. Brayden is stringing words together so quickly that I can barely keep up with him each day.

Here are some pics from today, it was such a beautiful day!

My little helper and his red wagon!

Trying really hard to rake a pile themselves :)

Oh the excitement of the first jump!

He is so happy after a good nap

Racing to the leaf pile

Then they decided to bury themselves in the leaves. Very happy with the pictures that I got.

Trick or Treat

Brayden was so excited to go trick or treating!

Hunter was so excited to finally be able to wear his Spiderman costume. He has been eyeing it in the closet and Halloween couldn't get here fast enough!

Cinderella and the little firefighter thought that it was break time.

Elisha the cute little cheerleader!

Our last stop for candy! We were very impressed with the amount of walking the boys did and how great they were.

Brayden crashed on the way home and it wasn't even 5pm yet!

Still out, but I had to wake him for some dinner. Both boys slept like rocks last night!

Hunter didn't want to get out of his costume. He was so excited when I told him he could eat dinner in it and now it was dress up clothes. First thing this morning he stripped out of his pajamas and put it on. He got a little upset when he had to take it off to get in the bath and wanted to know if he could wear it to school tomorrow. My sweet little superhero, if only I could freeze him at this age!