Some Clarification

Tonight as I was on the phone with Craig, Brody came up to me.  He had something he needed to clarify.

"Mom, I'm not robot. I'm a boy."

Good to know buddy.  He also made it very clear today as we looked at our family picture that Craig is Hunter's dad and I am Brody's mom, but I'm not Hunter's mom and Craig is not his dad.  Hmmm...we may need to work on that one!  But for now, it's pretty funny.

Dukes of Hazzard

Hunter is obsessed with the Dukes of Hazzard right now.  We have a DVD with a couple of episodes on it and if you give him a choice of what to watch, chances are he'll pick the Dukes.  And he's thinking he should have a Dukes of Hazzard birthday party too.  Because you know, it is now less than 6 months away and we need to plan early. ;)  While we were in TN, we picked up some Dukes of Hazzard cars at Cooter's.  That was the one thing that Hunter had requested.  He loves them and plays with them almost daily.  I was going through the camera, because I have two little boys who like to take random pictures and came across these.  They are too funny not to share.  Just shows how Hunter's mind works.

The Sheriff captured the General Lee.

And my personal favorite, the Dukes jumping over the Sheriff in order to get away.  The best part is that he had to hold the car in place while holding the camera to get this money shot.  Talk about some skills and creativity!

I Spy

Today, my mom, the boys and I headed to St. Cloud for an afternoon of shopping.  After a successful trip and supper, we headed back home.  Hunter was exhausted and wanted to take a nap.  There was no way I was going to let that happen because he starts preschool tomorrow morning and if he took a nap, he wouldn't be tired enough for bed.  So, my mom came up with the idea that we played games in the car.  Perfect!

The first game was A-Z.  We found all of the letters and were done in about 7 minutes due to going through a large city.  That game lasts a lot longer on the Interstate through North Dakota.  After that, we switched to I Spy.  After taking multiple turns, it was my mom's turn again.  She said, "I spy something white and fluffy."  Obviously it was the clouds, but to our surprise Hunter shouted out "YOUR HAIR!!"  We couldn't help but laugh and my mom was not offended by any means.  Funny how kid's brains work sometimes.  Oh, and he eventually figured out that she was talking about the clouds.

Dressing for the Occasion

Hunter loves to dress for the occasion lately.  If he knows he is going to be playing baseball outside, he wants to wear his Twins shirt and shorts and knee high socks.  Oh, and don't forget the hat!  And if he is going to play two days in a row, he will literally go in the dirty laundry and find his clothes.  Gross.  I usually try to persuade him to wear something different.  Sometimes it works, sometimes he wears his dirty clothes. 
The other day he went farming with a friend of ours.  He had a tough time debating about which John Deere shirt he really should wear.
Or how about the other day when he went with his dad to help Grandpa get all the shingles off of the roof and clean up from the storm.  He put on work jeans, a white t-shirt, and a flannel button-down.  Thankfully it was in the low 70's when they were out so he wasn't roasting, but he told me if he got too hot, he could just wear the white t-shirt because construction guys do that sometimes.  And to complete his construction look, he brought his hard hat with.
I love that he is in the land of make believe and believes he can be anything he wants to be.

A Case of the Double Undies

In our house lately, we have been experiencing multiple cases of the double undies.  What exactly are the double undies, you ask?  Good question.  It is a term that I have come up with...I think.  Who knows, maybe it does exist elsewhere.  But, the double undies is when your son is so independent he likes to dress himself.  Don't get me wrong.  It's a good thing.  You lay out his outfit for the day that consists of a clean pair of undies, a shirt and shorts/pants.  What's the problem with that, you may ask?  Well, you see in order to get a case of the double undies, my son ignores the fact that he should take off his dirty undies and replace them with the clean ones.  Instead, he places the clean pair over the dirty pair and voila! he's ready for the day.  I usually check him to make sure he took the dirty ones off, but every now and then I forget and we have a day with a case of the double undies.  It's weird and I know it's just a phase, but really, it is just plain funny.

Must Be 18 or Older

This is not what you think.  So don't worry!!

Today we had the TV on to escape the heat and humidity.  I like the heat...the humidity, not so much.  It feels like I'm about to suffocate.  And I think I'd tolerate it more if it was sunny vs. this gray cloudy looking stuff.  But, now I am getting sidetracked from my story.

As I was saying, we were watching TV...Disney or Nick, I can't remember, but it is amazing how they market things to kids.  I swear every other commercial is about the newest, coolest toy.  And then you have the great infomercials where they try to sell a product.  The newest is the Happy Napper.  In my opinion it is pretty much like a pillow pet, but called something completely different in order to convince kids that they need that too.  And of course, at the end of each of these commercials they say, "Must be 18 or older to order".

Let's just say my 5 year old is very upset about this.  He has no clue why they show kids these cute and fun new toys, but you have to be 18 or older to order.  He told me they are so mean and that the people who made them must hate (and we are not allowed to use that word in our house, so I know how strongly he must feel about this subject) kids because it is something a kid would like, but yet, you have to be 18 in order to have it.  He is downright disgusted with the makers of this product and can't wait until he is 18 to get a Happy Napper.

I tried explaining that it was because the mom's and dad's have the money to pay for it, so then he thought I should order one.  But, to save some money, I might just let him think that you really do have to be 18 or older to have those very special toys.  Mean?  Maybe a little.  But really, he already has more toys than a boy would ever need.

Out with the old...In with the new.

A little over a week ago, Hunter's gun broke. It was a sad day in the Zappe Household. Hunter and his cousin, Ashton were playing in Hunter's room. They had closed the door so Brody couldn't get in...little brothers tend to interfere, you know.

Well, they were playing, having fun when all of a sudden we hear Hunter calling, "Brody! Come in here and play!" Brody ran to the door, went in and slam! Hunter shut the door. Not even kidding, two minutes later, Hunter, Ashton and Brody came out of the bedroom with a broken toy gun. They said that Brody had broke it. Hunter told me, "Brody broke it with his strong muscles. He drinks more milk than me and has really strong muscles." Hahaha!! Craig and I are still pretty suspicious about how the gun really broke. The timing seems a little funny, don't you think? Or maybe we should start calling Brody "muscle man".

Well, we have looked around and found Hunter a new gun. He is back to hunting for deer, pheasants, ducks, skunks, not raccoons because they're too cute he informed me, and whatever else he imagines that day.

Our trip to South America

That's right...we went to South America for Hunter's spring break! And let me tell you-it was amazing!

Ok, just kidding. We didn't actually go there. In January, Hunter's cousin went to Walt Disney World. Hunter didn't understand why he couldn't go with. Devastated. Tears. Ok, more like sobs. But, we told him that we would make it up to him. If their spring breaks lined up, we would go to Mall of America and go on the rides and to Rainforest Cafe for lunch.

The next day at church, Hunter ran over to his great-aunt and was so excited to tell her the big news-"My mom is taking me to South America!" She looked shocked! I think she thought that I was taking Hunter on the next church mission trip to Ecuador. We then clarified that we were going to Mall of America...not South America. However, Hunter kept referring to it as South America and the name kind of stuck.

Last week, we ventured down the cities. We went down on Tuesday afternoon, spent time with Heidi, Jason, and Henry and on Wednesday we got ready to go to South America...I mean, Mall of America.

Hunter was so excited. He even told me he would wake up at 7 o'clock so we could make it there in time. This is coming from a little boy who usually likes to sleep in until 8:00-9:00.
We arrived at the mall around 9:30-9:45 AM and got front row parking. It pays to get there early! The mall and the rides didn't open til 10, but thankfully Lego land had the Legos out and the boys got busy building. 10 o'clock rolled around and we bought our wristbands and hit the rides! Hunter told us he wanted to go on all the scary rides-the scarier the better. I didn't believe him. I thought he was hyping himself up. But I was wrong.

Brody having fun at Lego Land!

We rode rides until a little after 11, heading over to the Rainforest Cafe, had a great lunch and then Hunter hit up the rides again.

Melissa and Hunter at Rainforest Cafe...it kind of looks like South America, right?

We tried a couple of rides with Brody, but he was not a fan. Poor kid. The things we try to make him do. At 5 o'clock...yes, we were there all day!...we decided it was best to hit the road and head home. After a day at MOA, Hunter's biggest accomplishments were riding one of the big roller coasters and the log chute not once...not twice....but three times! It was his favorite ride!

Brody's first ride-he was terrified!

Brody's last ride before we left....still terrified.

Hunter liked the carousel. He even tried to hold Brody's hand.

We had a great time there with great people and hope one day to make it back to South America. ;)

Healing

Hunter's quote of the day. And let me tell you...it can be hard to pick just one.

"Mom, Jesus heals us right?"
"Yep."
"But I thought band-aids did that."

What do Boy Scouts sell?

The other day, we were watching TV and a commercial came on about Girl Scout cookies. Hunter turned and looked at me and said, "Mom, if girl scouts sell cookies, do boy scouts sell milk?" How cute is that? I told him that they didn't and I'm pretty sure they sell Christmas wreaths. But, he is still convinced they sell milk to go along with the cookies.

Valentine's Day Food

Yesterday I wanted to do something special for the boys. Something that they would think was kind of fun. Something that would show them how much I really do love them. I'm pretty sure Brody didn't notice, but Hunter definitely did.

With each meal, I tried to incorporate hearts of some sort. Let's just say my heart cookie cutters were my friend yesterday. :)

For breakfast, we pulled out our heart waffle maker (a lovely wedding gift) and made homemade buttermilk waffles. Yum!

For lunch we used our cookie cutters and cut the bread into hearts to make heart-shaped grilled cheese. I enjoyed some tomato soup too :)

For supper, we made red heart jello-jigglers. The boys thought this was a lot of fun!

Auntie Melissa brought out Papa Murphy's pizza for supper, but we decided to put our own personal touch on it and cut Hunter's piece into a heart!

I had a lot of fun doing this year for the boys and think it will be something I will keep up in the year. Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day filled with lots of love!

Future Olympian?

Last Wednesday night we were at Craig's grandparent's for supper. Hunter thought it would be fun to stack up the pillows to see if he could jump over them. He started with three, but after he had no problem clearing those, he added a fourth.
Not going to lie, I was pretty amazed at the air he got! We may have a future Olympian on our hands. Maybe then Lindsey Vonn will notice him. He still wants to marry her.

Missed his landing.

Leaping over the pillows!

Adventures with Ned

This weekend we had a very special visitor at our house. Ned, the bear from pre-school, came home with Hunter. Ned came with a luggage back packed with clothing, his birth certificate and a journal for us to keep track of all of our adventures. Hunter loved being able to finally bring Ned home.

As soon as we got home, Hunter took Ned out of his suitcase. He noticed he was wearing a Twins t-shirt. Hunter practically sprinted to his room to find his new Joe Mauer shirt. He put it on so they could match. How cute is that? Then, Hunter proceeded to give Ned a tour of our house, including his two favorite rooms, the toy room and his bedroom.

That night, Ned met Grandma Julie. She came over to spend time with the boys so I could have a night out! Hunter fell asleep with Ned on the couch, but as soon as I opened the door he popped up!

So, we got Hunter and Ned ready for bed. Jammies on, followed by a good-night snack, then we went and brushed our teeth. Ned even came with his own toothbrush. How fun!

After getting the pearly whites clean, we headed to Hunter's room for a good-night story and Bible story. Well, lucky for us, Hunter also brought home a book buddy from school. It was Franklin (pictured above). He came with two stories where he was the main star. So, we read a Franklin book. Pictured above are Franklin, Willy, Hunter, Lamby, Ned, and BumbleBumble. Talk about a full bed! But, they snuggled in tight and slept all night long.

The next day, Grandpa Al came over to play while I had a chiro appointment and did a little shopping. We didn't do much that day, just the usual-cleaning, playing, etc. We headed to bed early in hopes of going to the cities in the morning for a birthday party.

Unfortunately, I didn't want to risk going to the cities based on the road conditions. But, I quickly planned a fun day. Something to get us out of the house.

We met Grandma Connie, Grandpa Neal and Auntie Melissa at Pizza Ranch for lunch. Hunter was concerned that Ned would get cold outside and that we should find a jacket for him. That was not packed in his suitcase. Quick! Think fast! I went to Brody's closet and came across an old Halloween costume. Perfect! It was a little big, but it kept Ned warm (at this point I was beginning to feel like I had a third child). We enjoyed pizza and cheese sticks then headed out to Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Brody fell asleep on the way out to their house. When we got there I went inside to put him down. Then, we brought in our winter clothes and let them warm up for a few minutes. Then, we hit the hill to take Ned sledding. Talk about fun! But, it was very cold. Ned only lasted one run. He and Hunter went down, but Ned got white-washed so we figured he should go inside. Melissa, Hunter and I continued to sled until we couldn't take the cold anymore.

Check out Ned and Hunter at the bottom of the hill. I had to go and rescue them. Talk about deep snow! I felt like I was going to get stuck. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's and played Wii and Legos. We didn't do much after getting home, but Hunter made sure that Ned got ready for bed and slept close to him once again.

On Sunday, we got up to go to Sunday School and church. Check out my three boys in the backseat! Yes, Hunter made sure that we got Ned buckled. Safety first! Hunter and Ned had a great time at S.S. Hunter's teacher even told me that Ned sat still and when they were coloring asked the teacher if Ned could have a crayon to color with too.

After church, Grandma Connie and Grandpa Neal came over for lunch. Then they raked the snow off our roof. Ned stayed inside with me. We thought he might get too cold. While they were outside, Ned and I enjoyed a cat nap on the couch. :)

That night, Hunter wanted to make banana chocolate chip muffins for breakfast the next day. So, he and Ned helped me measure things out. They were both great helpers.

Happy to help! Hopefully this attitude stays around for a long time.

The next morning we enjoyed the muffins they made for breakfast. They were delicious. We didn't do much that day. Grandpa Al came over to play for awhile and we watched a Thomas movie. Pretty laid back.

Today, Ned had to go back to school and get ready for his next visit to someone else's home. Hunter was pretty sad about it and hugged Ned for quite awhile before packing him back in his suitcase. Hunter told me that at school today, his teacher read our journal entries and showed the pictures to his classmates. Hunter told me that he told his teacher that he didn't want Ned to leave and asked if he could bring him home again. She reminded Hunter that he needed to share Ned with everyone. He still wasn't thrilled with this response, but I think has come to accept it.

Now this gives you a glimpse into a busy weekend in our home. It was kind of fun having Ned around because it helped us keep track of our day to day activities. Something we don't usually take the time to do. Thanks for the fun and adventures Ned! You are more than welcome in our home anytime you want.

Coyotes

This morning I woke up to the sound of coyotes howling. "Ahhhhoooooooo!" It was a loud, long yip. One that seemed very familiar. And then, as I wiped the sand from my eyes and my thought process became more clear, I realized how I knew that sound. No, it wasn't from the coyotes that live near my in-laws. The sound was coming from right outside my room by a little coyote named Hunter.

My door opened and Hunter ran in yelling, "Mom! There's a coyote here! I need my gun!" He grabbed the vacuum attachment and was off to get rid of the coyote once and for all. Hunter informed me that coyotes have five lives and he needed five bullets to kill it. He ran out to the living room, let out a long howl and then I heard five "gun shots" go off. Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!

"I got him, Mom!" he yelled from the living room. "Great!" I said, wishing for just five more minutes of sleep. But I knew that wasn't happening because Hunter was up and ready to go and Brody was babbling in his crib. I'm sure the "gun shots" woke him up.

As I was pouring my bowl of cereal and Hunter was busy eating his waffle, I suddenly heard the howl again. "Ahhhhhoooooooooooo!!!!"

"Mom! Get my gun! I must have missed him with a shot! He's using one of his lives again!"

One more Pow! took care of that coyote once and for all. It was an entertaining start to my morning, that is for sure.

Can you tell that Craig's hunting group got a coyote this past deer season? No wonder where these ideas come from!