Future Tony Hawk on our hands???

It's the weekend so what do you think we did???? Go to Target of course! I have a small huge obsession with that store....Anyways, Somebody loved skateboarding in the aisles with daddy today...Hunter had the biggest smile on his face while riding...Let's start you off with maybe a scooter first though, okay buddy??

Randomness from this past week

As you may remember I attempted potty training a little more seriously with Hunter...yeah, major fail....He wanted pretty much nothing to do with it. Well, other than wearing his super cool new Cars underwear that is...He would sit on the potty chair but I could tell he was just playing around and he would still just bring me a diaper to be changed. I will try again later but it's not the end of the world...oh well.

Over the weekend we went to see the "Smurfs" movie that was playing at a nearby park. Hunter wasn't too into the movie but he sure had fun running around and climbing all over daddy.

We got all our tickets squared away for Cincinnati. So that's a big scratch off the never ending "to do" list for me. Still have to call the airline and try to get our seats together and let them know about Hunter's suction machine we will have on the plane with us. It's been so nice we hardly ever use that thing anymore! Maybe once every other day, if that. With having him capped there's hardly anything to do! Such a strange feeling...but a good one. Really hoping we come back trach free from this trip!

My mom comes home today after a week in Seattle...she got to meet her 2nd Grandchild! Little Presley is just darling....her friend Larry also joined so they did the whole touristy thing, pike place, Boeing, Seattle underground tour (which is AWESOME) and of course they went the the Original Starbucks...I can't wait for our next trip there...hoping soon. My dad will come flying down here for Hunter's birthday end of August so that's exciting... Can't wait for him to see Hunter again!

Lately we've been having some issues with getting Hunter to eat more than just snack food whenever he wants...He will eat applesauce or yogurt at dinner time but not the main course etc. Very frustrating. I know it's very normal as he is a toddler and all but still! I"m not sure whether to let him graze or insist he eats at meal times and if he doesn't eat then, then no food? Got to do some more reading up on that topic.

However, last few days we have discovered the amazingness of SMOOTHIES!....I can sneak in all really-good-for-you-spinach right along with the yummy strawberries and bananas etc...and he doesn't even know....not to mention he LOVES it...YAY!

I went out for a bit last night with Hunter and came out of the store to find the truck parked next to us....Thank you truck for leaving NO room to open the door and put my child into his car seat!!!!!!! GRRRRR I hate that...so rude. I had to crawl over from the driver side of my car...super fun.


Okay enough babbling...here's the pictures.....

chillin' in my underwear...yes HE insisted on wearing them like this...

perfect night for a movie

mmmmmm

happy toddler = happy mama

smoothies and bambi...

getting muddy with daddy...don't mind the nasty pool water...oops..few days like that and you have a  nice little science project going on...lol

not sure who is walking who.....lol

evening bike ride..

it was even worse than the picture looks!!

Welcome to the world...

I'm a couple days late on posting this but on Saturday July 21st at 5:55pm the world got a little cuter..with the additional of little Presley ; ) ....She is my first little niece! I can't wait to meet her! Congrats to  my brother Kevin, and Alison! Welcome to the world of parenting, the hardest yet most rewarding job in the whole world....

a very proud new daddy!

I went to World Market today with Hunter just to get out of the house for a bit. Didn't find anything I couldn't live without....until the very last little corner of the store we breezed by and I found these darling little ceramic fruit cartons. They are too cute for words...and luckily I had some yummy strawberries to fill them up with.

Other happenings....we finally got Hunter and my plane tickets squared away. Now we have to buy Jeremy's and hope he can get on the same flight as us. So far it looks good still, we'll be doing that tonight hopefully as we don't have much more time before we leave...less than two weeks! Just a reminder if you forgot...We go to Cincinnati Children's again for possibly decannulation (trach removal)!!! Beyond excited and nervous all at once...

My mom is in Seattle visiting the family and her friends. Hunter's first cousin on my side of the family is due any day now...Her official due date was yesterday. Sounds like if no baby tonight then they plan to induce tomorrow sometime. Very exciting!!! Can't wait to get back home to meet her for the first time! I will update more once I hear something!

What's for dinner?

I found a really good and easy chicken enchilada recipe from Pinterest...That site is AMAZING...and very addictive. I found myself on the site hours at at time..whoops! If you're in the mood for mexican, these are REALLY good and REALLY easy to make, which I love. I'm not much of a cook and it was a piece of cake for me to whip up. Here's the recipe and link if you want to check it out. What are you waiting for...go make some..NOW!! lol

White Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken enchiladas with green chili sour cream sauce

*These are seriously so so good*

10 soft taco shells

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

3 Tbsp. butter

3 Tbsp. flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream

1 (4 oz) can diced green chillies

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 pan

2. Mix chicken and 1 cup cheese.  Roll up in tortillas and place in pan.

3. In a sauce pan, melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute.  Add broth and whisk until smooth.  Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.  

4. Stir in sour cream and chilies.  Do not bring to boil, you don't want curdled sour cream.

5. Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.

6. Bake 22 min and then under high broil for 3 min to brown the cheese.

even Hunter liked them..  ; )

Operation potty train

Well, I should clarify this...I don't fully intend on getting Hunter completely potty trained right away but I'd like to at least start making an effort. He has used his potty chair before and even gone potty in it a couple of times!! I don't feel it needs to be rushed and frankly I know boys often train later than girls this age but he many times will bring me a new diaper and wipes and lay down wanting to be changed. So I know he knows when he goes in his diaper, which is a good sign. I plan on staying home mostly for a couple days and offer the potty chair to him often and just see where this goes...No pressure, Hunty...but I have lots of M&M's with your name on them...... ; )    

his new big boy underwear

Missing Gram....

I've been really missing my Grandma lately. I still think to myself multiple times a week "I need to call Gram and update her on Hunter etc"...Only to remember, I can't. She won't be answering her phone...I've known her number by heart for as long as I can remember and sometimes I think I want to call it just to hear it ring and maybe hope for a split second she might just pick up.

I still have not really started to even begin to fully grieve her loss just yet. My brain in packed full of all things Hunter right now. It's also that I don't want to just yet. I am not ready. I miss her so much though. It's almost surreal to look back just a few short months when I got to see her just days before she passed. I had to leave early for my flight that morning and I told her I loved her and I know I said something else, but I can't remember exactly what it was. I knew in my head it was the last time I'd see her alive but in my heart I wished that weren't true. We said our goodbyes just as we had done before, whenever I'd go home to visit. I wanted to hug her a little longer and a little harder but I didn't want her to think I knew she was going to be gone soon. I wanted it to be like before when we'd hug and say goodbye and know that I'd see her on my next visit home....<3

Picasso??

Hunter tried out his finger paints tonight....he started out liking it, then he got freaked out when the paint was on his hands...needless to say a bath in the sink was in order! I think his paintings are masterpieces...and not just because he's my child....they are awesome ; )

And after his painting and bath were done...there's nothing like a snack before bed and some PBS kids on the ipad....Good night everyone!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

We celebrated the 4th by going to a local parade...Hunter was much more interested in the small planes that were flying over head. That boy and planes, trains and automobiles...he LOVES them. Cannot get enough. of them, it cracks me up. Later we went over to my mom's friend, Larry's house for a BBQ and some pool time fun for Hunter. Thank you Larry for having us over! Hunter was in the pool much of the day...he was having a great time eating chips and crackers in the pool, dunking them and eating them...GROSS i know!

We were all a little bummed the parade was mostly cars and politicians, no bands or twirling batons...we figured you have to live in a really small town to still see those =(  None the less it was a great day. Here are some pictures to enjoy. I actually have a lot more pictures on my camera but our card reader is acting up so until I can get those pictures...these are the ones from my phone =)

Glamma and Larry

One of the blogs I read is IROCKSOWHAT. She is a great blogger..she blogs about her son, clothes, health, you name it. Check her out! She found a fun picture app that I thought I'd share as well, she blogged about it recently and I downloaded it and so far am really loving it. It's called Picfx. You have so many options to add really cool effects to your pictures on your phone. I highly recommend it as well. Check it out. I haven't even discovered half of all the cool things you can do but here are some fun pics I did today. I love taking a picture a creating something different with it! I'm no pro at this by any means but I sure love to play around with it!

I never mean for it to be so long in between posts but better late than never right? Today we had a fun pot luck with my mommy group at a nearby park. I haven't seen most of the mom's in a few months with traveling for Hunter's stuff etc. So it was nice to catch up a bit. I wish I could have chatted more but watching Hunter proved to be a bit challenging. He is ALL OVER THE PLACE! Swings, now slide, now monkey bars, now running, now trying to hide from mommy...you name it! He had a blast though. I tried to get him to eat some of the yummy food that was there but he wasn't having it, he wanted to play instead.

Westside Babies and Momma's!

watching for airplanes!

YUM!!

Hunter has continued to do awesome with his capping. He caps all day and at night he wears a humidity collar around his trach or an HME. I still pray he stays healthy for our next big trip to Cincinnati...fingers crossed! August is creeping up on us already...I need to start checking out flights again for Jeremy and get in touch with insurance about getting flights for Hunter and I. We are so thankful to have help with all the travel expenses. It sure would be much harder without them paying for some.

Tomorrow we are going to the Rio Rancho 4th of July parade. I can't wait to see Hunter's reaction. He LOVES trucks, cars, motorcycles etc...and it's full of them! We went last year and Hunter was a little young to appreciate it still. Unfortunately, Jeremy won't make it but he'll be with us the rest of the day after he leaves work.

Work for myself is going good. We are in a temporary location (same building though) while they decide if they are going to remodel our old store or we just got word they may even look for a whole new retail location for us. So until they decide, we stay in our temporary location. It's not too bad, it took a while getting used to though.

Hmm what else....oh Grandpa and Grandma Lampkin came into town last week..They drive a semi truck cross country so the pass through his every now and then. Hunter had a blast checking out the HUGE truck. He was on cloud nine watching all the trucks drive by. His favorite word is truck..or as he says "hut"...

I took a couple of pics but none with all of them looking at the same time!

Well that's all for now I suppose...I'm having a tough time thinking of topics to write about (other than Hunter of course)!....I think I will check out some idea's to write about online and see what interests me. Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe 4th of July! Tomorrow I'll have some fun pics from our celebrations!