Busy Weekend

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had quite an agenda on our Albuquerque visit. First up was playing bunco, a mindless dice game, with a bunch of my girlfriends. Rosalie hosted everyone for a hawaiian themed night. And not to brag, but I did take home the prize for the most "wins" of the evening.

 

Note to self: pressed powder. 

On Friday we celebrated my mom's birthday with gifts and a yummy lunch at one of her favorite lunch spots with my grandma and aunt. Later in the day we dropped Kennedy off with her Grauntie (my aunt Anita) so my mom, dad, brother and I could have a grown up dinner together. What a treat it is to eat at a restaurant with out a toddler!

Kennedy helped Lainey open her birthday gifts. 

Saturday my mom and I went to this cute little tea house, Mes Amis,  for a wedding shower. My cousin Chris is engaged to a lovely girl named Andrea and I was so happy to be in town for her shower. We even snuck in a little afternoon shopping since Kennedy was staying home with Gramps. Or Bamps, as she actually refers to him. I enjoyed a night out with friends while Kennedy hung out with Lainey and Bamps.

Some of the girls at the shower: Marlowe, Andrea, Brittany, Me

We did manage to find lots of time to play at the house and enjoy the nice weather. Kennedy got a few princess dresses and did not want to take them off for anything. She also loved playing basketball, splashing in the water table and playing with the slide in my parents yard. And after Gramps/Bamps washed his car she got to sit and pretend to drive all over the place.

Princess on the run!

All smiles when were outside.  

Water break. Minnie was parched. 

Also, don't mind the barcalounger in the top of the photo. That's just the neighbors unpacking the largest motor home I've ever seen. 

The flight home was early, but a total success. Kennedy scored her own seat and we had, hands down, the nicest flight attendant ever bringing her juice, crayons and Southwest wings.

Now I have 2 days to unpack and repack for our next trip to San Antonio this weekend! First legit baby-free vacation officially on the horizon. Excited and a little nervous to leave her for 4 days. I'm sure Olive will take good care of her. And if Olive needs help, Lainey and Bamps will be here, too.

Meeting Baby Hank

We took a little trip to NM last weekend and had quite a full agenda when we got there! One thing I was really looking forward to was meeting the new baby of one of my best friends, Michaela. We met in high school and have been friends ever since. As it so happened, another one of our good friends, Julie, was in town for a visit. It was so much fun catching up and talking about our lives in NM, TX and CO. I can't believe we are all moms now. Seems like just yesterday we were getting in trouble at our high school Winterball.

Anyway, I had gone home for Michaela's baby shower in February when she didn't know if she was having a boy or a girl. I was dying to hold baby Hank, but because of a little cold, I had to keep my distance. He is so sweet, and cute, and tiny. Its hard to look at him and remember when Kennedy was that size. I can't wait to go back in July and give him a proper squeeze!

At Michaela's gray and yellow baby shower in February.

Julie (due with baby #1 in Sept!), Michaela, Hank, Me

 

 Hank Thomas, born April 12, 2012

Found

We "found" Minnie tonight. We are very happy. All is well in the Hunter House tonight.

Somethings Missing

It started in September 2010. We took a 10 week old infant to Disneyworld to surprise Grammyflash for her birthday. It was an awesome trip and we all had a blast. All things considered, it was one of the easiest trips we've taken with Kennedy. At some point, Grammyflash bought Kennedy a little Minnie Mouse plush. Literally love at first sight.

 Love at the Magic Kingdom.

Over the past 21 months, Kennedy has carried Minnie everywhere. Literally, the only place she doesn't go is "school" because I am afraid she will get lost. Greg and I have heard tearful stories of special bears, blankets and dogs being left behind and the kids are simply unable to cope with the loss. We attempted to get a replacement, should this horror ever occur with Minnie. But the trick with trinkets purchased at Disneyworld, is that you cannot just buy them anywhere. We tried to introduce a seemingly identical Minnie from the Disney Store and Kennedy would have none of it. Impostor. She knew it.

The unthinkable happened Sunday, somewhere between Lululemon and J. Crew, Minnie jumped ship. We called all the stores hoping she had been turned in and spent the night trying on fancy pants. But Minnie is lost. And Kennedy is devastated. Its pitiful, really. She walks around calling for her, Minnie? Where are youuuuu? I keep telling her Minnie is napping, visiting Mickey and working in the garden. Kennedy got injured tonight (kid stuff, no biggie) and cried for Minnie for almost an hour. Not even the magic of fruit snacks could console her. Hopefully replacement Minnie will arrive tomorrow all the way from Orlando, FL, thanks to Disney Merchandise Services.

Now, I present you with a montage of Kennedy and Minnie. Let me preface this by saying this doesn't even scratch the surface of the amount of pics I have of these two.

Learning to crawl. And no doubt watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in bed with Minnie. 

Minnie has traveled everywhere Kennedy has. And Kennedy has shown her an appreciation for the musical arts. 

 One particularly messy dinner with Baby and Minnie. 

 Papa, Kennedy and Minnie. 

Sunday morning before our shopping trip. 

2 Little Monkeys

Kennedy had a few of her friends over to play this afternoon. The kids played and played and were all starting to crash one by one as it got closer to nap time. Emily really liked playing in Kennedy's crib and of course, what one tot does, the other must follow suit. Kennedy and Emily spent a good 25 minutes pretending to sleep, jumping on the bed and giggling in her crib.

I can't believe how long Kennedy looks here.  

Blurry action shot. 

2 little monkeys jumping on the bed. 

Partytime

This afternoon following our music class at Kidville, we hung around to participate in their anniversary party. They had all sorts of activities for the kids. One of the play gyms was even tricked out like a high school prom - DJ and laser light show included. Crafts, gymnastics, balloon animals, pizza, juice boxes...Kennedy was in little kid heaven.

As per usual, most of her fun was had on the trampoline. There were big kids there today and she loved being double bounced by them. She took a quick break to devour her pizza and went back in the gym for some monkey bar time. We ended with a craft and a very worn out little girl. She got a bath toy in her party bag and couldn't wait to come home and take a bath.

More pizza please. 

Happy Easter

We awoke this morning with a phone call from Uncle Eric (my brother) in Korea. He was calling to share some very exciting news...he proposed to his girlfriend, Sora! And she said yes. What a great way to start out the day.

Our original plan was to get up, see what the Easter bunny left us, go to church, then brunch and hunt eggs all before naptime. I'm aware this was a very ambitious plan. We had to rearrange plans since Kennedy stayed up pretty late last night, girlfriend slept in well past 8am.

Kennedy got up and we walked her into the kitchen to see what the Easter Bunny left her. Obviously she had no idea there would be presents of any sort this morning, but she was quite excited. She loved pulling everything out of her basket and wanted to play with it all, at the same time, immediately.

We got dressed and headed to Dream Cafe for brunch. Well, mommy and daddy did the eating, Kennedy decided she just wanted to watch Bubble Guppies and throw her milk on the ground...like a little sweetie pie. When we got home we took her to the park by our house for a egg hunt. Brunching and egg hunting wore the little lady out and she came home and took a nice long nap. This gave me and Greg an opportunity to relax, watch a little Breaking Bad and get ready for Easter dinner.

We met up with Caroline at her parent's house for a delicious dinner. I made an Easter themed app courtesy of Pinterest and Caroline's mom had quite the spread of ham, mac and cheese, salad and carrot cake. The table was beautifully dressed, and save for an epic temper tantrum from drama-baby, we had a really nice time. The temper tantrum occurred when Kennedy wanted in the "bath." Which is actually the hot tub near the pool. And she was only happy to be on the highest, most precarious stone above the hot tub. Paci and iPad to the rescue.

We had a really nice and relaxing Easter weekend. Its really fun to experience holidays through Kennedy's eyes. Now its time to start planning her birthday! She will be 2 in just three months. Eek. 

Easter basket full of goodies. Princess plates. And one of Kennedy's favorite bunnies on the table.  

"OMG stickers!" 

 Hunt #1 at the YMCA on Thursday. Hunt #2 at our park this afternoon. 

 Skype time with both sets of grandparents. 

 Daddy, leave me be and I will be happy. Remove me from this post and you will be sorry. 

 

Just let me live my life!

Up Late, Again

Last night we had a little cook out with some friends, and again, let Kennedy stay up way (way) past her bedtime. She got to play with her buddies Audrey and Sloan, both Big Girls (i.e. 3 year olds). She had an absolute blast and took to the Dress Up game immediately, Sloan provided ample choices including princess dresses and fairy wings. At one point, Kennedy had a clear umbrella that both older girls clearly desired. Knowing better than to take something away from a baby, they decided to trade her a chicken hat for the umbrella. I do believe Kennedy came out ahead on this trade. See for yourself.

Side braid action. 

I'll get better at braiding her hair...I hope.  

 

Kennedy, Sloan and Audrey in their Dress Up Finest. 

 Tutu, fairy wings and a chicken hat. Awesome. 

Coloring Eggs and Hands

We had a little adventure in coloring Easter eggs today. Its perfect patio weather, which is good, because coloring eggs with a 21 month old is definitely an outdoor activity.

While we were setting up she kept walking around saying, "coloring eggs, oh yeah, color eggs" but I think she thought it involved crayons or markers and paper. We showed her how to take an egg and put it in the bowl full of color. She took to it immediately and had a lot of fun. Because she hasn't totally mastered "gentle" she was throwing the eggs in the bowls causing major color splashes on the table. We started fully dressed and ended with her in a diaper. Turns out, it was just as messy as we thought it would be. But she had a great time and was really proud of all her brightly colored eggs.

 Ready to color. 

 Combining Egg Toss with Coloring Eggs. 

Good thing we lost the shirt, this is when she splattered blue dye all over her chest.  

Hulk hand. Messy fun. 

Past Bedtime

We run a pretty tight ship around here. Kennedy (as well as Mommy and Daddy) are all happiest when we stick to our schedules. We try to get Kennedy up and put her down for naps/bed at the same time every day. Occasionally we stay up past our bedtime and its either a colossal disaster or a ton of fun. There's really no in between.

Last night we were having fun with the bubble machine after dinner and didn't even realize it had gotten to be a good half hour past bedtime. When we came inside, Kennedy decided she wanted to play dress up. She modeled a few shirts I had bought earlier in the day. And then had fun going with me into her closet and picking out different things to put on and show Daddy. I wish I had gotten the camera out sooner because we have some fun clothes from Korea and China, courtesy of Uncle Eric.

 Birthday hat and skirt from her 1st Bday. And fresh drool on her belly. 

Soccer jersey from Korea.  

Running up and down the hall as fast as possible. 

She was pretty sure lions were chasing her. 

Crawfish

Our friends Chad and Jill (also known as Chill) hosted a crawfish boil at their awesome new house to celebrate both Chad's birthday yesterday. We decided to make it a family affair and bring Kennedy with us. The weather here is tip-toeing the fine line between a warm spring day and oh-my-god-its-too-early-to-be-this-hot. But there were lots of cold beverages on hand to keep us cool. Kennedy got to have her first juice box, and to say she enjoyed it would be an understatement. Greg and I took turns keeping her entertained outdoors and sneaking inside for a little snack or two. She got to pick up and hold a crawfish and was a little freaked out by it. I was happy to let Greg enjoy the feast while I took the little lady inside for a break from the heat. I don't do well with spicy or fish, and while these are technically freshwater crustaceans, they still won't make an appearance on my plate anytime soon. We had a great time visiting with friends and meeting some new faces. It felt like a proper kick off to the spring/summer season!

 Splashing in the basin of adult beverages.

 Jill and Amanda

The Hostess and Birthday Boy 

Beanbag toss. I'd win every time if I were allowed to get this close to the board!  

Sipping on cool beverages.  

Dig in.