meet michael

this is michael. hunter says that he's happy to meet you.

you may be thinking to yourself, there's nothing there. it's just a white background. yup, you're right, it's just a white background. most people can't see michael... and that's because he doesn't really exist. but to hunter, michael is very real.

michael is hunter's imaginary friend! we literally found out about him last saturday. i happened to be sitting on the couch and brandi was in the room getting some work done. ethan was rolling around on the floor and hunter was bouncing from room to room, just playing and having a great time.

all of a sudden, he shut our bedroom door and all we could hear was, "Michael where are you? Michael come in!" this went on for about 5 minutes.

finally brandi, walked over to him and asked who he was talking to. hunter in his typical style, kept his answer simple, "uh, michael mommy."

"hunter, who's michael?"

"my friend mommy."

"what does he look like?"

"i don't know, mommy."

this has gone on everyday for the past few days. if this lasts for the next few days, i think michael will be an imaginary part of our family for the long haul.

dang, i love my kids!

ethan is crawling!

ethan finally decided to start crawling this morning! here's a look at his first few crawls...

hunter's new friend

About 3 months ago, Brandi put her Cookie Lee business card in one of those "put your card in here to win a free lunch for your office" bowls. Funny thing is... she won! Since she really doesn't have an office for Cookie Lee, the good people at Chick-fil-a decided to set up a night where all of her cheer and song girls could eat for free.

Well, last Thursday, our family and a whole bunch of parents and students in the cheer and song program at El Toro went up to Chick-fil-a in the Tustin Marketplace to enjoy a meal.

While we were there, the Chick-fil-a cow mascot happened to be walking around greeting people. Hunter was super interested in what the cow was doing, but had no desire for the cow to get near him. Anytime the cow was within 2o feet of him, he would say, "Noooooooo cow... go away!" That lasted for about a half hour. By the end of the night, hunter had made a friend.

Thank you Mr. Chick-fil-a cow, not only for your fine dining establishment, but also for winning over Hunter's heart.

in case you didn't know, hunter loves chocolate

these made me smile...

... hope they do the same for you...

4th of july recap

we had a great 4th of july! the day started off with us going to my parent's house for a pancake breakfast (hunter's favorite!). the boys had tons of fun with their cousins and were bummed to leave, but they knew that they had a full day ahead of them.

after my parents, we drove down to oceanside to spend the rest of the day with brandi's side of the family. her aunt and uncle own a condo steps away from the beach, so we always look forward to heading down there.

we had a full day of walking around the street fair, going to the beach, and swimming in the pool. there were, of course, a couple of moments that we'll never forget!

hunter, of course, loved playing in the sand with jadyn. those two had so much energy, just watching them play made me tired.










then brandi's cousin rylee was playing with ethan, when all of a sudden, we heard her scream. turns out that the flock of seagulls passing overhead decided to leave her a little surprise... on her sunglasses! in the midst of all the laughter and commotion, we realized that the seagull nailed ethan's back as well.













but that's nothing compared to what happened next. after we were done at the beach, we decided to head back to the condo, rinse off, and take a quick dip in the pool. both hunter and ethan were loving the water, so we decided to let them swim for a while.










after a little while, hunter looked at me and in a whimper said, "daddy, poo poo." just to make sure, i said, "hunter did you say boo boo, or poo poo?"

"daddy, poo poo!"

lifting him out of the pool, "okay buddy, go let mommy see..."

mommy's reaction said it all! we jumped out of the pool to head back to the condo and change hunter. easier said than done. along the way, hunter's swim diaper began to give it's contents began to run down his leg. thankfully, brandi's mom volunteered to clean him up. after a few minutes of hard, manual labor, he was clean... but the towel was a goner.

after that fiasco, we enjoyed some good company as we awaited the fireworks show to begin. hunter was super excited to watch the fireworks. as 9pm hit, we all gathered on the balcony to watch the fireworks, only to see that the fog that had rolled in was so thick, that we couldn't see a thing... literally nothin'! we saw A firework throughout the entire 20 minute show, and just heard the noise for the rest of the.

hunter was bummed, but took it like a champ!