The Elk-Feeding Station

Last Sunday after church, Dave announced for us to change our clothes and grab our coats because he was taking us on a little outing. I was happy, because we'd spent all day Saturday cooped up in the house .... not fun. We grabbed a snack for the ride, then headed out.

We ended up at the elk-feeding station in Naches! The boys were ecstatic! There were tons of elk, and a lot of people there that had the same idea as us. The only bad part was that the majority of the elk were a long way from where the people could stand, so we couldn't actually see a whole bunch of them ... apparently they don't like people gawking at them while they eat? Lucky for us, we had the binoculars. :)

We love Daddy for all the fun places he takes us!

Party Pictures

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting pics from Hunter's parties. Yes, I said parties! Last Wednesday was a busy day for us, but it was totally worth it to see how happy Hunter was all day long. I have nothing else to say, except that I love that little boy with my whole heart. He is such a blessing!

Coop decorated all the cupcakes, which we took to Hunter's classroom at lunchtime.

It was pure 1st grade silliness for about 20 minutes, but it was great :) I feel like I fit right in!

Whoa - cool Batman cake!

Cool! A Transformers game for the PS3! (He's been playing it non-stop)!

AND - a red & black bike from Nana & Papa...just what he asked for!

Then on Saturday we had his "friend" party at the roller-rink, which was lots of fun too. We had 8 kids there, plus their parents. The kids skated, played games in the arcade section, got their faces painted and we had cupcakes, ice cream and juice. It was a long afternoon, but again, totally worth it. You can click on the collage below to see the pictures better.

Now I'm planning a party for Dave! Whew, they never end around here!

Hunter Turns 7

Today is Hunter's 7th birthday! I have to admit that last night after I got done reading to him and we were talking and laughing, I actually SAW the last 7 years flash before my eyes and I had to leave the room before I started to cry :( I saw his crazy curly hair and his chubby

2-year-old cheeks and his proud big-brother grin..... where has the time gone?!

Here is our little guy when he was 4 days old. We went to the hospital late Sunday night (Super Bowl Sunday), but the contractions had stopped by the time we got there. (Nothing like being first-time parents and jumping the gun :) But they let us stay and rest, and induced me at 6:00 AM the next morning.

The whole "giving birth" thing kinda did a number on me, as they'd gotten the epidural too high, which made me numb from my neck down! And Hunter's heartbeat dropped way down right before he was born because the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, so that was VERY scary. But our families were there to support us and help us through, and Hunter Reece Kleinow was born at 2:57 PM on that sunny Monday afternoon.

He had a ton of brown curly hair and weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 21 1/4 inches long. He was perfect! He was such a happy, silly baby and everyone adored him. Being the first grandchild on my side and the second on Dave's side, he was pretty much SPOILED!

His hair soon turned blonde, and grew into this huge mess. We cut his hair, but it just got curlier!

We honestly thought it was cute at the time, but whenever we look back at the pictures, Dave & I look at each other and say, "We let him go out in public looking like this?" Haha!

He's been to a TON of Mariner games in his short life! We've made him into a life-long fan :)

And boy, does he LOVE his Daddy!

Here he is with me and Aunt Kris on his 3rd birthday. He was a Nemo fanatic!

Preschool and Kindergarten flew by, and here we are with a 7-yr. old 1st grader! There are so many things we love and appreciate about Hunter. He is kind and compassionate; he can tell when you need cheering up. :) He is obedient (for the most part) and always tries to do the right thing. He is helpful! He is a great big brother! He is SMART and is great at all kinds of sports. Also, he is a superb video game player...( I thought maybe he'd like it if I put that in - haha :)

Hunter ~ We love you SOOOO much and you've made us so proud. We hope your birthday is as awesome as you are! Love ~ Mom

Super Bowl Sunday

We were all very excited to watch this year's Super Bowl on our new TV! We invited a few people over, but no one came. Soooooo....we had our 1st Annual No-One's-Coming-To-Our-Super-Bowl-Party party! WooHoo!

Dave & I made some delicious enchiladas, I whipped up my first-ever bowl of Pico de Gallo (which turned out to be VERY good), and we ate an entire bag of peanut M&M's, along with a ton of other snacks. It was a great afternoon! After all - it can never be boring around here with two rambunctious boys bouncing all over the living room when you're trying to watch a football game, right? :)

Here are some good pics of us in our awesome 3-D glasses...which Hunter declared "didn't even work that good!" LOLOL!

Coop's glasses were all bent by the time it was actually time to use them.

Oh, how trendy are we?!

They had to wear their jerseys, you know!

We were really sad the Cardinals lost, but oh well, we still love Kurt Warner! Maybe next year the Seahawks will be in the Super Bowl! Ha! And maybe we can invite some people off the street over to our house for some good food, since the people we know don't seem to want to come over :) I'm not bitter or anything.