Three Random Things

#1. So, I was talking to my good friend Carissa today. We were talking about the last of the stubborn pregnancy pounds. 10 to go for me. Still. She has successfully lost weight after her 2 babies and is about to pop out a cute #3 any day now. She looks great! I thought she'd be a great person to discuss this topic with--until she suggested that I give up....CHEESE. Now girls, I've somewhat gladly given up wedding cake this summer, cupcakes at friends' showers...but beloved cheese? I cannot. I cannot. Or can I? Well, I'm gonna try. Josh and I are planning a trip next summer that will involve a bathing suit. So, that's my goal. To get it off and keep it off. Cheese?

What would be your worst food to give up?

#2 Dax Shepard. There's not many actors or actresses that I really just take a liking to. But this guy just cracks me up! He shows up in the most random places...and I say...that's the guy from Baby Mama! :) The latest appearance where I spotted him was in the movie "When in Rome." At the end, he plays a guy who's interested in another guy, and I about came unglued because I really, but SO-unromantically liked him. I still do, but I did yell at the screen, "No, Dax, why did you do that?!?!" Despite the unmatchable character arc they seem to like to put him in, I like him because in real life, the goofy Dax graduated Cum Laude from UCLA. Now 'dax pretty funny.

#3 July. I do love July. I love May and December too. But July almost always promises a pool, homemade ice cream (thank you, Dad), and some grillin'. And the Fourth of July is just one of those unpretentious holidays. No pressure who you spend it with, it seems. You can just BE. Maybe it's part of the freedom party package.

Ok, that's all for now.

~CJ

dear hunter- 8 months!

scrunched-nose...a household favorite
yummy starfish
turtle head
still has a huge head!

Hunter, we praise our God for you! These 8 months have been some of the best, most exciting months of our lives.

dear hunter,

One of your new tricks is when I put a small cloth over your head...I say "Where's Hunter?" ---and you pull it off. Sometimes. Sometimes, I know i can see your sweet cheeks smiling so wide even underneath the cloth...."Where's Hunter?" "Where's Hunter....?" You like to make me wait in anticipation. I'd wait any time for you! You are so fun! You like to eat...and eat and eat. I'm not sure what your favorite food is because you like it all! But you do really still like carrots...and as far as table food goes, you think guacamole from Mariachi's is really good. :) You love your "Where is Baby's Belly Button?" and "Peek-A-Boo, I Love you" books. (These are the ones where you can participate and lift the flaps). You are so happy when you find things. You also laugh really hard at the "Funny Farm Animals" book where I put my fingers in the pages and make the animals wiggle. Ha! You are getting more familiar with the swimming pool...even splashing yourself and kicking, kicking with those legs "jumping" on top of the water. You are still crawling, or "scooting" rather across the floor. Daddy and I love to get down there with you and roll the ball back and forth.

Another funny thing you started to do this month is what Daddy likes to call "chewing air."

And you still get really excited about your Bible stories at night. You praise Him with your belief that they really do come to life. We love you. ~ Mommy and Daddy

father's Day, a retirement party and an anniversary :)

So here's more to why June was so busy for us! But we are excited in our hearts to have so many special celebrations. Josh's first Father's Day was fun to plan. Hunter and I set out a table of goodies for him before he got up. One gift not pictured was a gourmet lunch at Wing Stop---his favorite. :)

Also, Jane, my MIL, aka "Nana" retired from teaching 36 years!!!!!!!! We are so proud of her. She has literally taught multiple generations of 8-year-olds! We love her so and are happy she will be more free to make trips to Houston. I had a great time decorating the event---we had floating apple candles in apple etched glass bowls---sitting upon black composition notebooks. So fun! Sam (Josh's sister) had a great cake made (see pic). The festivities were held in timeless Salado, TX.

And lastly, but the most fun...our 6th anniversary. I was just talking to Amanda Hill today .....they just celebrated their 7th. Can't believe it. We were actually in Salado for the retirement party on our anniversary, so we celebrated a few days early. We went to James Coney Island and got chili cheese dogs like we did when we were dating and tailgated at a park on Woodway. Little man was in the backseat sound asleep to ... what else...Michael Buble's "Let Me Go Home." What's new? Josh took my hand after we ate and we danced outside the car to Buble...yes, in the parking lot. :)

I guess I should mention that I ate grilled chicken, a green salad and peas at Stagecoach Inn for the retirement party since I have confessed now about Wingstop and James Coney. Just makes me feel better to add that.

dear hunter- 7 months- June

So behind! I took this picture (believe it or not) ON his 7 month birthday, June 10th. So much has happened...I am just now posting your letter...Sorry, Mister!

Dear Hunter,

What a fun month we have had together. You giggle like no one's business. We have found many fun tickle spots. You started to crawl this month--showing us you are smart on two levels....First of all, when you didn't want to exert energy to crawl, you would just "shimmy" the toys you wanted by pulling the towel towards YOU instead of crawling to it. Your Pappy said, "Smart Boy!" Secondly, when you did want to be more mobile, you used your biggest strength to get you going...you HEAD! You get down on the ground on your stomach, then your head gets tired and hits the carpet. Then you will proceed to push off something and move forward-- with your head! It is the funniest. You get where you want to go though. :) You still enjoy Michael Buble best of all as far as "sleeping in the car" music---"Let Me Go Home." But your favorite song to hear was the "chocolate factory" song from Veggie Tales. You would laugh so hard and look me right in the eyes as I sang the opening line almost every morning, "Good Morning, George...how are you?" Oh, you LOVED it. This month you enjoyed your Nana's retirement party at The Stagecoach Inn in Salado. We had slumber parties at Kayla and John's house, Nana's house, Gigi and Pappy's house....we were on the road! You love being in the bjorn when we are out and about. You kick your legs at the same time ... up and down ...up and down..much like you do in the swimming pool...you like to kick your legs "float-free." You like to fall asleep while eating quite a bit...but you like for me to still sing to you, too. Often times, my singing wakes you up...you get wide-eyed...stop eating and want to sing back to me. You get so excited! My favorite "Hunter trick" of the month was that you started scrunching your nose real tight....with a big, wide smile, and squinted eyes, and blowing air through your mouth which produced an airy, drooly, laugh. You do this most when you are talking to someone and you are really having fun. Well, it could be a toy too.

I love you, kiddo. ~ Mommy

June was a crazy month.... :)

june was very busy for the strong gang. i've got lots of fun events to post about! here's the intro...hunter's first trip to berry hill! i thought of ashley when i went and remembered our time at berry hill when tae was in china last year. it was after we met the crazy lady at the mac counter. :). this time we took nana to berry hill when she came to visit us in early june. i could not wait to put hunter in his matching plaid hat and shirt. CHECK OUT THOSE CHEEKS! :)

Love, Court (mommy)

dear hunter~6 months

Hunter, I cannot believe you are 6 MONTHS OLD! Just 6 short months ago, Daddy and I were anxiously awaiting you. Waiting and Waiting....we don't wait anymore! You keep our lives busy and FUN and FULL. Your laugh just sends me into orbit. When you are really excited about something, you wrinkle you nose before you let out a big squeal and subsequent belly laugh! I love it. You love Okee. You love to watch her. The other day when she got eye level with you (when she was disobeying the rules and sitting on the couch), you stared at her with your mouth wide open. The banner over you read "bliss." Your mouth kept going from a silent, wide open "o" to a big smile and then back to an excited "o" -- Oh my! You were like a Norman Rockwall painting of a boy opening a box for Christmas when a golden retreiver puppy pops out. Oh, if I could have bottled up that face...I'd have been a millionaire. At least to me.

You are looking very blonde in your 6 month pics. Although you definitely have some brown hair. I think you inherited my blonde streaked hair. You will be the only kindergartener with highlights. :) ha! You look like a little froggy in the above pic. Where did you think you were going? :)

You love your solid foods. You like them all. Peas was first. Your favorite songs right now? Well, "Time to eat lunch" is where you made your debut in our Sunday School class. I started singing it to you after class one day and you started laughing with glee. You were such a ham...you had all the moms rolling. But you also like "Skiddlemarink-y-dinky-dink" and "Oh, How I love Jesus"--especially if I pull your face towards mine every time I say "oh!" You can sit up on your own very well (see pics!) You are starting to want to crawl--at least if it means you can get closer to your toys. You haven't started yet, but you are trying. I promise to be in God's word daily so I can give to you out of His overflow instead of anything I could come up with. I love EVERY bit of you. Love, Mommy

Mother's Day Weekend!

We had a great Mother's Day weekend! These first 2 pics were taken before we left for Brenham. We had 14 people from our family eat at the Southern Flyer Diner! (Who knew our family was so big, by the way?) The Flyer is a great restaurant if you have never been! It's the restaurant at the Brenham airport--totally decked out in 50's decor---waitresses in poodle skirts, judebox, you name it! Interestingly enough, PBS was filming a documentary series in the restaurant that day, called Day Tripper. It was very funny--first of all to see them film this little skit, stage it, etc. And secondly, it was funny because they were trying to film around the 14 of us, laughing our heads off at who knows what in the background. Not to mention someone kindly handed me some of Hunter's "links" that had flown across the diner at some point. Maybe they won't even cut that out and he'll have a little claim to fame early in his life. Needless to say, we did not get any pictures at the diner. It was all Josh and I could do to get the stroller, the kid, the high chair, the squash, and the toys into the establishment.

Mommy and Hunter about to walk out the door to Mother's Day lunch. I had a letter in the mailbox earlier in the week that read "mommy" on the front from Hunter and Daddy. They wanted to treat me to Vargo's on Sunday.

Hunter's first Peacock :) @ Vargo's. I think he was more excited about the rice he ate off of Daddy's plate, though.

At the end of Mother's Day, I concluded it had not been much different than any other day. Josh always lets me know how much he appreciates me as a mom to Hunter and find special ways to surprise me everyday. Thank you for being a great husband, Josh!