Sorry for the blogging delay. Between wiping Hunter's "boogies" every 5 minutes and now wiping my own, I have been a little too pooped to blog. Hunter was ill last night and my cold fully bloomed today, so we did a lot of snuggling today. He is quite a happy-sick child, so I consider myself very blessed.

In the meantime, Mark is wearing a gas mask, gloves and using tongs to prevent contracting, what he thinks is, a deadly cold. :) I have to admire him for always being so cautious. I still give Hunter kisses even when he has a snotty nose and cough. I just forget. You understand, right?

Back to the storytelling! Saturday, we planned a co-family outing with our dear friends, the Sturgills. Because of yucky weather, we decided to go to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum near Dulles Airport. While I was not enamored with looking at the different nuances of airplanes, I did see some very interesting airplane specimens. The "Enola Gay" was a big attraction- dropped a bomb on Japan, I think. The other large attraction was the "Blackbird, the world's fastest jet- pretty cool. I liked getting out, seeing something new and, my favorite, socializing! Plus, I got to snuggle with the Sturgill's new baby, Lydia.

Mark really liked it; something about history being interesting. It just doesn't register with me. Hunter loved seeing the "air-payne," "coppur" and "spaise-sip." He has a little toy space ship at home, so I decided to call the space shuttle a space ship. I don't know but I would bet the "space ship" was his favorite part.

Wesley (the Sturgill's son) and Hunter both did great in their strollers. We had originally planned to not bring the strollers and let them walk/run but they both had colds, so they rode until the very end, where we let them out. Then, it was off to lunch.

Like most parents of children, especially young children?, time away from our precious offspring is rare and precious. We have been so blessed in the past by our friends, Renee & Chris, who have graciously watched Hunter for us to go away for a night. They had even volunteered to keep him overnight in February prior to the birth of their second child but both our boys became quite sick, so it got cancelled.

I decided to ask another dear friend, Kamber, to watch Hunter, then we could keep Sara Grace for them to go away. She loved the idea and the swap planning began. We have been (especially me!) itching to go skiing this winter, so a-skiing we went!

I brought Hunter over on Friday night, Kamber made the kids dinner and I gave Kamber all of his "supplies" and a few instructions (paci's and blanket at bedtime, etc.). Before heading out the door, I asked her to take pictures of the kiddos and reminded her: "Don't forget to charge your camera battery." Out the door I went in the new-fallen snow, toddler-free! Ah, freedom!

Saturday, we went to Massanutten near Harrisonburg. The weather was AMAZING! We couldn't have had much better conditions than we had this weekend, which was great, especially because Sunday was the last day of their ski season. Phew! We made it just in time.

I was going to take snowboarding lessons but wimped out after Mark kept telling me how concerned he was that I would get hurt (plus, I had to see the orthopedic about my knee earlier this month). So, it was skiing for me; snowboarding for Mark. He does look super cool snowboarding and I really want to try it someday.

We skied all afternoon, took showers, went to a relaxing dinner and a movie (Premonition- good thriller but it had a terrible ending). It was wonderful connecting and having fun together!

Sunday on the slopes, I asked someone to take our picture, who happily obliged, but when he turned on the camera, guess what: batteries were dead! Do I need to say it? I needed to heed my own advice. So, you will not be viewing any pictures of us in ski gear or of Mark cutting snow down the mountain on his board. However, I can guarantee you we went. You should see the bruise on Mark's.... Well, anyway, we had a great time.

Sunday afternoon, we headed back to pick up our little angel, who seemed to wish we hadn't come back. Thank goodness children are so versatile.

Guess what... still haven't charged my battery. :)

I shopped a consignment sale this past weekend and spent almost $100 on toys for Hunter, which he really needed. I came home and cleaned them immediately so he could start playing with them the next day. He actually didn't run downstairs, throw up his hands and act like it was Christmas Day. He just walked over and started investigating- very much like his Daddy. (I would be the "Oh my! It's Christmas Day!" person.)

He got a tricycle, a sit-n-spin, a fridge farm (still afraid of that), an Elmo that doesn't work (thank goodness because we discovered he is terrified of a singing Elmo), a corn popper, a couple of vehicles, some puzzles, a bunch of books and a Little People Train set (an old model but he doesn't care). He just loves his train set and has played with it for hours since Saturday. However, his favorite toy that I brought home for him is: a Dirt Devil vacuum. I'm not kidding. It's the cutest thing ever!!!

Tuesday, I had to do some vacuuming. I gave Hunter his vacuum and he vacuumed right next to me the whole time. I wish I could have taken a picture of both of us vacuuming together. He did the same thing yesterday while I vacuumed and again today, even though I wasn't vacuuming! He even wanted to take the vacuum with him to church today. As soon as he got home from running an errand, he wanted- you guessed it- his vacuum! Too bad that thing doesn't really work. I would have the cleanest floors in the neighborhood. You think I can buy him a baby mop? :)

Check out our little Domestic Engineer. I'm proud to say he's all mine!

We were so blessed this weekend, as we were able to go on a date both Friday and Saturday- carefree, none-the-less. A friend from church insisted on watching Hunter for us so we could have a romantic evening out. Even though Mark & I genuinely believe in date nights, we rarely do it because it is so expensive! When it costs $50 on top of dinner and a movie, it's just not worth it. We try to replicate it at home or have another couple over to have fun. So, when our friend, Christine, insisted, we excitedly obliged.

Most of the time, Hunter is such a doll with other people. Of course, he is good at home as well but is more apt to "let his hair down" with us. We were so excited to take him over but didn't know what to expect from Hunter in her toddler-free home.

We set up our playard, explained his bed-time routine and told her a car or a ball could keep him happy for a while. I was excited to discover they have a new dog! Yes, Hunter is just like me and has NO fear of dogs and adores them.

Hunter was content, Christine and her husband were briefed and we were off on our way to dinner. He cried as soon as we walked out the door. Christine's husband strolled out while we were backing up and said he already stopped. He just wanted his lovey- a car! They had a blast!

I seriously had no worries all evening. However, it does help that I have a toddler who is very serious about his sleep. It is a blessing and I think it's inherited. :) We ate quickly to catch our movie and went to the bookstore for dessert.

Upon retrieval of our sleepyhead, Christine told us how Hunter is so abnormal because he didn't fuss, played independently and went to bed easily. I was thankful, of course, but in the back of my mind, I know how he is at home: squeeling while his pj's are being put on and getting fussy waiting for dinner, but I'm so glad he was on his best behavior for our friend! What a blessing.

Thank you, Christine and Shawn! Thank you also to our friends, Renee & Chris, who were gracious to watch Hunter for us Saturday night for a MOPS event. We truly had 2 peaceful nights.

When I left for Ballet tonight, I gave Mark a couple of instructions: please cut up the chicken in the crock pot and feed Hunter his dinner. When I came home, I walked up the stairs, puzzle pieces were strewn across the living room and the kitchen looked like it exploded! There was flour sitting on the counter, Hunter's dinner tray & bib covered in slop and a sink full of dirty dishes. What happened?!

After finding Mark and looking for any alien embodiment, I cautiously asked what happened. I even had a smile on my face. He sheepishly grinned and began to share how Hunter didn't like the Chicken and Dumplings stew I made and how he started flinging his spoon around. He tried to thicken it with flour to make it less soupy, which made plaster of Paris. Hunter then proceeded to rub it into his hair and face as Mark proceeded to turn around and cut up the chicken for our dinner. Nice.

Mark fed him something completely different for dinner and claimed to clean him up with a washcloth, and that I wouldn't be able to tell what had happened. I won't believe it until I see him in the morning.

The culprit.

Close up.

The clean up (I should have taken a picture of the kitchen before the clean up but forgot.).

Yesterday was playgroup that was held at a friend's house in Dumfries. After playing and snacking for a little while, we all packed up our sippy cups (our children's, that is), put all our shoes back on and headed out the door to a place called Novaks. Hunter and I were new to Novaks and, boy, did I have no idea what we were in for. Novaks is a true Gymnastics gymnasium (rings, parallel bars, vault, etc.) that has times for toddlers to come in and romp around. All of us moms and our little ones had a blast! There was no whining, no crying, no "I'm bored," just everyone running around with big ol' smiles on their faces, enjoying the 45-minute period we had to run around!

Hunter loved crawling on the trampoline. I tried to get him to stand up and work on his jumping but he would have none of that. Our instructor tried to put him in a bear position on top of the parallel bars (assisted, of course), but my top-heavy, jello-armed boy would have none of that, either! However, his favorite part was running down the "runway" where you would run to jump on a vault. The "runway" is like a long, skinny trampoline. The kids would run and bounce and go back for more. At the end, there is a large "mattress" on which they could jump. Just beyond that, there is a pit of foam squares. These kids were in their own slice of Heaven!

Then came circle time. Our sweet instructor, Rachelle, called all the kiddos into a circle and to sit on mommy's lap. That's when "it" happened. I sat down and Hunter crawled into..... Rachelle's lap! You know the "crawl" about which I'm referring- the butt-first, bent-over approach. How funny! Poor girl. Nah, she didn't care but I sure thought it was funny. What a good day with our kids. I am so glad I quit working to stay home with my little guy!

For a change, we made some fun memories this weekend by actually getting out of the house and taking advantage of some fun in DC by visiting The Museum of Natural History. Yes, we were inspired to go after seeing The Night at the Museum a couple months ago. We were hoping to play catch with a T-Rex! (see the movie- it was so funny!)

So, Hunter was able to use some of his words: "feesh", "eh-phant" and learned "wyon". He learned a lion says "woar" because we were crazy enough to take him to a 3-D movie about Lions in the IMAX theater! Hunter was so incredibly good, especially because he only had a 30-minute nap on the way into DC at 11:00 and the movie was at 2pm.

He sat in his seat WITH his 3-D glasses on the entire 45 minutes. You think that's cute? The best part was at the beginning of the show when the lions roared for the first time and the 3-dimension made the lions look like they were coming to get us and poor, little Hunter jumped in his seat and proceeded to cry LOUDLY in the theater. Mark & I both had our arms around him, so we felt him jump! Not to worry- he crawled into his mama's lap and calmed down within seconds and I talked him through the rest of the film. He did great! I hope he doesn't have nightmares from the scare.

It was really nice to get out, visit the great things that surround us in our nation's capital and act like kids ourselves! We could have stayed at home working on a project or running errands but those will not be the days we remember so well. Making memories is something that has become extremely important to me. My new goal is to have at least 1 memory making event a month! What a great challenge to have.

The Museum even has a kid's Discovery Room where they can touch lots of things. Here's Mark teaching Hunter about the finer things in life.