On know this is late, but better late than never!

On February 12, 2003 at 11:57 pm my Hunter was born at a big 9lbs 11 oz. Hunter was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. All that black hair was amazing and his blue eyes! Every inch of him was just perfect.

The picture on the left is me holding Hunter for the first time! The picture on the right is Hunter about 30 minutes after he was born when we were able to share him with our family!


It is hard to bleieve that it has been FIVE years since Hunter came into our lives. That day my life changed in amazing ways. Becoming a mother was the best moment of my life. I don't think it can be topped. Anticipating his arrival for 9 months was an incredible journey all on it's own. But seeing him & holding him for the first time was ..... I can't even think of a word. I just cried when I saw him. The pain was gone and my heart was overfilled with joy! I remember them saying they were going to take him for testing really quick especially since he was so big. I didn't want them to take him. I had just laid my eyes on him and they wanted to take him away! I could not wait to get him back in my arms. I remember those nights in the hospital. Holding him, walking around the room singing to him and still crying. I could not get over the fact that this little baby boy was mine.
Here are pictures of Hunter at each of his birthdays.

Hunter's 1st Birthday

Hunter's 2nd Birthday!

Hunter's 3rd Birthday

Hunter's 4th Birthday

Hunter's 5th Birthday!

When I look a Hunter now I am just amazed at how much he has grown in a short amount of time. He has become his own person. Hunter I love you more than you will ever know! You still bring so much Joy and Happiness to my life1 I can't wait to keep watching you grow and change!

Update

The last two days Rusty hasn't even whimpered about me leaving him at the daycare. Monday I walked in and they got his breakfast for him and I sat him down and tried to sneak out but it didn't work. Hunter yells out" I need a hug" which is sweet but at the same time I needed him to be quite. So I walk back over give him hugs and Rusty says the same thing hugged and kissed him too and then left with no fuss or even a tear. I even got a bye mommy love you from Rusty:) And the same happened to day. Now if I can just get him to sleep at night I would have it made. They are both growing up and learning and it is incredible to watch. Rusty put his own shoes on and now will only let me help, he drinks out of a cup and not a sippy cup most of the time. Rusty is even asking at dinner to pray before we eat and sometimes at bedtime. Then we argue over who will pray before dinner is cold. Hunter loves to pray but bless his heart his prayers can last forever and then he throw in something silly. That's a four year old boy for you:)Hunter of course jokes around as always but is learning also. He is into rhyming. Every morning we rhyme and make silly words. Well off to hopefully sleep tonight. Rusty has a twin size bed and we hope that will be of some help. Only time will tell!

Starting KinderCare

Here is Hunter excited about his first day Of KinderCare! He decided he should give thumbs up. The First day of KinderCare Hunter was so excited. I woke him up and within 5 minutes he was completely ready to go, however mommy was not. Hunter had decided he would eat breakfast there which is unusual usually he wants to eat when his eyes open. Rusty on the other hand had woken up with a fever and for a couple days before had a bad cold and cough so he and I were going to stay home. A we drove to the KinderCare the boys argued over whose school it was. We went in Hunter hugged me and was ready for me to leave. Rusty on the other hand cried because he could not stay. I had to fight to get him back in his car seat and then he cried for the next hour about Hunter and school. I couldn't wait for Hunter to come home and tell me about his day. He came in all smiles and said it was great. The next day when we went to school Rusty got to go also and he was perfectly fine with me leaving. They said he did fine until the separated the two boys then he cried a lot:( They took him over to see Hunter at one point and Hunter told him " I told you to be good so stop crying" Patricia one of the many ladies at the daycare said it was all she could do not to laugh. Everyday after that he cried when I left and a lot throughout the day. It makes me so sad to think that he is there crying and I can't make him smile. The second week was a little harder. Monday I ended up crying with him. They told me that it would take about a month for him to adjust and not cry. So I am ready for the month to fly. He has gotten to the point where he doesn't cry all day and doesn't always want to leave. Hunter still loves it and talks about it all the time.

Here are pictures of our Holiday guest Joe Python. Joe came to our house over the holiday so that he wasn't stuck at school alone. The boys and I had fun with Joe but Kevin couldn't wait for Joe to return to school.

Here is the Love of my life. We have now spent 9 Christmas's together. Kevin means the world to me. I don't know what I would do without him.

A Wonderful Christmas

Our sweet family on Christmas Eve!

And this is my precious Meme with Hunter. I am so glad that Meme was able to join us for Christmas. She is very precious to me:)

My Dad and Rusty

Christmas has been a very busy time for the Crabtree's. We have seen lots of family and friends and open way to many gifts all of which we love. The boys have really enjoyed all their new toys. Rusty seems to just now be getting the hang of opening presents up. He likes to open one and then he wants to play, the others can wait. Every package both boys opened was followed by a "wow, or look mommy". And they have done a super job of remembering their thank yous. Hunter was really into knowing who each gift was from which was very precious. This year we stayed in Texas for Christmas but we were able to spend time with the Kevin's crew we usually meet up with in Nebraska. It worked out perfectly. Christmas Eve we went to my family and had Christmas. After dinner Santa came and we opened gifts. The boys are really amazed when they walked in and Santa had made a delivery! Santa brough Hunter a train and Rusty a tool bench with tool. And funny enough they switched gift just like last year. Which worked out just as well.There were three other kids there that night and they all had a blast playing with each other and they did so good also! Thank Goodness! That night we came home and had Kevin's
cousin stay with us.

I felt terrible because nobody got any sleep. Thanks to my Rusty~ I think Rusty was not meant to sleep. Maybe he was to excited! Anyways in the moring believe it or not Santa came and brough yet another gift. And here it is!

Even though it was freezing we bundled up in our PJs and went out to play. They both had a blast. I just love Rusty in his upside down glasses!LOL

You will notice that by the end of Christmas day even after a nap, Rusty was really really tired!

And these are pictures from a few days before Christmas with not only our wondeful friends both the God Parents of our boys and their two children

This was PJ day at Dana's and I gave the boys bed head for the day! They loved it:)

Well I hope everyone had a MerryChrsitmas and a wonderful New Year to Come:)

Time with Santa!

Hunter was so excited to see Santa. We waited in line for what seemed forever. We kept trying to talk about Santa and show Rusty Santa so that when we got up there he would be OK. He is very nervous and shy when he is first around someone. By the time we got up there Kevin and I were worn out from trying to keep the two entertained. When we finally got up there Hunter went right up to Santa and got on his lap. Rusty on the other hand was not so sure. He help on for dear life and shook like a leave. But Santa was able to bribe him with a sucker. Hunter told him he wanted a train and a vacuum. This makes the third year he has asked for a vacuum. He has one but it is broken, So he is getting one but not from Santa.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Getting ready for Christmas this year has been better than ever before. The boys have been so excited. I told my mom back at Rusty's party about Rusty calling Santa"HoHo". At dinner after his party while waiting for our table a was holding Rusty and he started climbing up me. I had no idea what had gotten into him. After a few minutes of trying to clam him down he started saying"HoHo" is the most excited voice. When I turned around well there seemed to be Santa behind me but he was in his everyday clothes. We told them man who Rusty though he was. His wife asked my mom quietly what the boys names were and we walked up to the boys and asked if they had been good and that he was taking a break from making toys to check up on some boys and girls. Hunter had no clue whatsoever. To him Santa is the man in the red suit. But Rusty was extremely convinced. While we were eating that night he would shrug and ask where Santa Hoho was. Then Hunter started catching on as well. So he tells everyone we ate dinner with Santa and that Santa eats too. You would have thought the big belly would have given that away a long time ago:) Below is a picture of Rusty just in Aww of a plain tree!

Then came the Christmas tree. Hunter about drove us crazy after that day about putting the tree up. He just could not wait! So out came the tree. When we put the stand out and the shirt Rusty was so excited. he sat on it and petted it forever and all he could say was "WOW!" I did get the camera out and capture some of the moment. As the tree went up he just Kept saying WOW! I was just overjoyed by his excitement. A plain tree was just perfect for him and by that point we decided to wait to decorate until the next night. Hunter was devastated. He wanted to finish it but it was late so we had to wait. Here is Rusty placing his ornament.

When we did decorate it was so neat to see Hunter light up. He wanted each one of the ornament to look perfect, which meant to hang them all from the very bottom and we let him:) Then he started moving his pieces up. he loved when he got picked up to put them up high. He would comment on how each and everyone was so beautiful. Here is my big boy Hunter making the tree look beautiful.

I am so thankful for my little boys. They are truly a gift. Every moments is so precious and everlasting. After a hard last few weeks with making difficult decisions with childcare stuff, I have become 100 times closer to my boys, Kevin, and God! Everything happens for a reason. The boys will be starting a Preschool program at KinderCare on the 31st. They are so excited and so are we. We drive by everyday to see their"school" and the argue over who it belongs to. Which makes it so much easier. It will also make next year much easier also. With Hunter starting kindergarten next year I would like to be able to take him in the mornings and now I can because Rusty will be at the day care right around the corner. For now the boys are home with me for the Christmas Break. Today was the first day home with them and we had a blast. We went and bough Daddy's(Kevin) Christmas present which was so much fun. The we went to McDonalds and they were just awesome. And tonight we went to visit Santa. I can't wait for them to wake up tomorrow and to have another fun filled day. I'll work on posting Santa pictures tomorrow:)

My Baby Boy Turned Two

This is the smile that I just love to see!

I can hardly believe that it has been two years since Rusty was born. It seems like yesterday. We have been working for weeks to get him to say that he is two. When you asked him a few weeks ago how old he was, his response would be good. Now he actually answers with saying two.

Before the party Rusty was in a real Crabby mood. But once the guest started showing up he got excited. He could have cared less about opening presents. he had not interest at all. He did how ever want to play with everything that came out of the bags:) We got him a bike because he always climbs up on Hunter's and I just know it is an accident waiting to happen. Hunter and Kevin went to the garage to get the bike so I had to literally hold Rusty down. When they came in with the bike Rusty ran past them and cried where's my bike?

He thought Hunter was bringing his bike inside. He will of course not pedal the bike yet but eventually he will get eager enough and do it:) He was so cute when we were singing to him.

Hunter was a good sport about the day being for Rusty as long as he could have cake and of course know that the presents would be toys that they both could use.

We really enjoyed all of our guest. Happy Birthday Baby Boy or should I say Big Boy!

Single Parents

You are probably wondering what my title means, well here goes. Kevin has been out of town all week long. He left Sunday morning to go to North Carolina for training and got back on Friday morning. However, he left again Friday at 4:00 to camp with the Church Youth! I just don't see how a single parent can, work take care of their home, be with their children, and somehow take care of themselves all the time! I enjoyed the special time I had with the boy but I'm tired! We went to the park and played one day after work, had a day at McDonalds for dinner. Had my parents over to visit , had a picnic with Arby's food which is Hunters' favorite. We rode our bikes everyday. And I saw Hunter put on dozens of puppet shows. And many more fun things along with working all day. All which I can deal with and enjoy more than ever but bedtime is a killer. The boys haven't gone to bed well this week at all. Lets see we started at 8:35 and it is now 9:46. Hunter has finally stayed in bed and Rusty is now staying in bed also but he is crying!!!! We had one night at bedtime that went great and I did nothing different that night than any other night. I give them milk and we all sit and talk for 15 minutes or read a book their choice, which is usually both. And showering!!!! LOL !!! Single parent either do not shower or they do it with the help of their little ones. Big Kuddos to those single parents or parents that have spouses that travel a lot.

October

I am just not good at keeping up with my blog any more. I always seem to find something else I need to be doing. Tonight Kevin is watching the Mavs so I thought i would take the time and blog. So here goes. October has been so much fun! The boys had a blast this past month! We spent a lot of time at the pumpkin patch at our church. The could run for hours around the same pumpkins and never loose their smiles. Rusty however did like to pull my leg every now and then and run for the street!

I also got to attend the Bush Girl Cousins weekend that went really well thanks to my cousin Jennie's hard work:) Here we all dressed up .

Kevin was also in charge of putting together our church's Family Fun day this year which I was really nervous about how much time he would spend on. But it was great and we sold a lot of pumpkins that day and meet the October goal! So all of his hard work paid off ! There were lots of different activities, bounce house, big slid, games, hayride. I was lucky a couple of the girls from our youth group helped outwith the boys. It made the day a lot easier on all of us.

This is Katie Helping Hunter launch a pumpkin across the lawn.

Rusty and I took a break for a hotdog.

There was a station to paint at and Rusty loved it. As he would bend down to get paint his head would hit the board. Here he is determined to get paint on me. Look at that little tongue.

Katie , Hunter, Kayla and Rusty on the hayride.

The best part that day was the firetruck. When they got to the church they asked if anyone had a camera and Kevin gave them mine I worried at first because as you can tell from the pictures I NEED my camera. The firefighter took it to the top of the ladder and took pictures, It was AWESOME! And the ladder was so high in the air the boys along with mommy and daddy were just mesmerized(sp).

We also had Pumpkin math night at school I took Hunter with me and he did such an awesome job. He decorate a pumpkin and even wen tot the math stations and participated on his own with out me. I can't believe he starts school next year. Where has the time gone?

Luke and Hunter hard at work and having a blast!

And then there was Halloween. The kids were so excited we did not enter a store all month long without a long visit to the Halloween area. Hunter was a Ninja Turtle and Rusty was an Army Man. A good friend of ours (Roger) Bought the outfit for Hunter when I was pregnant with Rusty before leaving for Iraq. Well he came back but is now back there again. I thought it would be neat to have Rusty dressed up and send pictures to him.

The boys had a blast trick or treating and Trunk or treating! Rusty however at the end of the night though anybody with candy was giving it away. So he would walk up to other kids Say"Tinker Teat" and dig into their candy it was funny and yes we gave the candy back. Luckily he did not up set anybody:)