The Best B-Ball Player around

Canon is pretty much obsessed with balls. They are just about ALL he plays with, all day long. While I'm nursing Champ, we play ball together. He plays by himself A LOT, and daddy plays with him when he comes home. So Phillip decided to go ahead and get him a basketball goal (we were going to wait until his birthday). We are so glad we didn't wait because he LOVES IT!! He was so excited about it, started dunking the ball, making every shot. Phillip showed him how to throw it in from a short distance and he did it the first time, and kept making every shot. We were so impressed and proud, as every parent would be, but we also think he has some natural talent. Of course the girls were excited too, and thought the box would be fun to play with since we wanted this to be only Canon's toy, for the most part :)
It is also funny because we had just gone and watched Phillip play a basketball game earlier that week and were trying to teach Canon how to dribble the ball. He was really into the game and liked watching them play. Now we KNOW we have a little ball player on our hands.

when daddy dresses them

This is what I found Canon dressed like on Saturday. Phillip was questioning why I had picked this out for him....


And THIS is what it is supposed to look like, on a ONE Month old! :) ha ha

a birthday party

sweet friends
Natalia is one year old!
swim party
Champ wears his first swimsuit (Thanks Danny and Amber!!) and gets his feet wet
the kids run around throwing balloons
we had a great time!
did i mention great friends...they are also our neighbors. we can see their back yard from our back windows. our two other friends live right by them, we are all so close. we love living here!

Phillip's Ordination and Champ's Dedication

Sweet sweet sweet Sundays. Phillip is now an Ordained Minister of the gospel. He has been preaching the Word for years now, but now it is official and a few things change legally. He can also marry people in the state of MO now. He married my brother and sister in law a year and a half ago in Texas, they have different rules. He has 4 or 5 weddings lined up for this year, and had to get ordained quick since his first one is this weekend!
The weekend before that, on Mothers Day, we dedicated Champ to the Lord. So sweet. We have a few other pictures on Phillip's computer that I will try to download soon. :) Two weekends in a row, standing up in front of the church, JUST had a baby, THANK you Betsy for that dress!!!

Camera Happy

I took my camera in to the shop Friday. They called me after the weekend and said my camera was working perfectly and there was nothing wrong with it! The lens was working fine and it was in great condition. HEALED and FREE! So today I've been a little camera happy. There is one of Phillip with Canon working on the computer when he was a baby, and last night I took one of Phillip with Champ too. Also, we are in the middle of a new deck and sprinkler system...both are taking lots of time and hard work on Phillip's part. The picture doesn't do justice to how bad our backyard is looking right now:) And the first picture is a sneak peak at an upcoming post..."Tot School".

ONE month old!

Bella Baby

I fall more and more in love with him everyday! Why is it you always want to "eat them up"? More like kiss them constantly! The best saying I've heard is that we moms "form their face with our kisses". I am constantly kissing on him. He is the best little baby!
These were our hospital pictures and they are too cute not to share. His hair is getting lighter by the day and his eyelashes and eyebrows (both blonde) are coming in as well. His cone head is diminishing (thanks to 3 visits to our chiropractor now), and he is beginning to fill out. He has sweet blue eyes, long fingers and toes, skinny legs and a pouty bottom lip that gets me every time:) I think he already looks so different than these pictures, and can't wait to take more. I took my camera to the shop today, yeah!
Champ Andrew Hunter, 4 weeks old today!!

without a camera, i'm no fun

my camera is still broken. it is still broken, sitting in my desk, waiting to be taken to the shop. i fully realize that i am missing out on precious pictures of my now three week old as he is ever changing, growing, and becoming more alert. i use phillip's iphone for moments I just can't resist. i'll post those pictures soon.
other things on my brain:
did i mention i'm going to be an aunt again?!?! i'm SO excited, my little brother Danny and his sweet wife Amber are, surprise!!, going to be parents in December. i couldn't be more thrilled for them! this will make 7 grandkids for my parents in exactly 4 years. so fun!
we had Champ's dedication at church last week, on Mother's day. it was so sweet to stand as a family, dedicating our newest to the Lord. setting a physical example of what is in our hearts (kind of like baptism), Champ is the Lords! I had the whole family dressed in corresponding colors, the girls were matching, the boys were matching, it was the sweetest. I had two people taking pictures for me (i'll post those later too). After church it is just so hard to take a family picture that we STILL HAVE NOT taken a family picture of the 6 of us. Not at the hospital, mothers day, dedication, or yesterday at Phillip's ordination...which is next on my list of days to talk about. It was a very sweet service yesterday. Phillip was ordained by the church. The whole service was centered around it and two very important people in Phillip's life shared, as well as his dad, and gave a charge to us as a couple. Champ was in the bjorn the whole time, and cried there at the end...but was SO good the whole service, we were proud. They prayed over us at the end, people all came up and hugged our necks, and we had a party for Phillip afterwards at our new house...celebrating his ordination and simply just how PROUD of him we are!! We have no pictures as of yet to show for this day either. Our life is full, so sweet, blessed, and did I say full?! Full of sweet sweet people though, wow, we really are blessed.

I've always wanted to be a mom

I've always wanted to be a mom.
When I was two, I was already being a mom to my newborn brother who my mom found me carrying down the hardwood hallway announcing, "he's crying!" My whole life I've mothered a million baby dolls and barbies.
I've always wanted to be a mom.
I've envisioned myself pregnant since high school, sticking my belly out after a big meal and dreaming in the mirror. I daydreamed about babysitting, dressing up little toddlers, pushing them in strollers. Thankfully I was shy enough not to steal every persons baby at church, but I did have those favorites that I would always be holding after the service.
I've always wanted to be a mom.
If someone would have told me that I would meet the man beyond my dreams, get married a year later, be pregnant with twins a year after that, and have two more children all before I'd been married 5 years, I would have laughed with overwhelming joy! This is what I always wanted, but never really planned, or dreamed it would happen. We didn't plan twins, we didn't plan Canon, and we sure didn't plan little Champ. But here they are, wonderful, healthy, perfect, all very young and close together. Exactly what I would want.
The hard part is, as I'm growing older I'm also desiring other things. To really pursue my husband and have more time with him, to be involved in his ministry, to have a small ministry of my own, to serve others more, to have longer quiet times, to take up cooking and crafty/sewing hobbies, to work out, simply... to be more involved. I fully realize that this is a short time in my life and I want with all that I am to soak it in. I want to relish in this time before it is too quickly gone, but I don't want to focus so much on it that I lose track of the other things that are so important as well. I know many mothers feel this way during these "times" of our lives. That is why community is so important. Friends and encouragement are so important. A fresh, Godly perspective is so important. We can't just say, "oh, I'll do that or get to that when my youngest is 3." Because if we don't make a habit of things now, we'll never really do it.
I love love love having babies, love being pregnant (even though my pregnancies are difficult), love just watching and learning about my kids.
I've always wanted to be a mom.
Not a perfect mom, or the mom with perfect kids, just a regular mom. Trying her hardest and each day trying to figure out her "role": Dependent on the Lord.
Happy Mothers Day :) a little late

Dance Party

This is a regular night at our house. Canon is quite the mover. We'll catch it on video one of these days...
And, one week old, Champ had his first Chiropractic adjustment. We are also working on reshaping that sweet little cone head. It is already so much better, thanks Dr. Suitor!
And my favorite picture from the hospital...

kisses, eyes and diapers