A weekend with Hunter

I got the pleasure of spending some serious time with my favorite three year old nephew last weekend so his parents could enjoy an early Valentine's Day date night.  

(I had my other niece and nephew on actual Valentine's day.  I mean, I can only babysit so many kids at once, haha ;) )

I picked Hunter up after his nap on Saturday, and immediately gave him the iPad - like any good Aunt would do.  It's his favorite thing and it always makes me wonder what parents did before they were around.  (I'm kidding...but only kind of.)

See, he even has the iPad in the car :)

We spent some time playing, and then met my friend Shannon and her parents up north for some dinner.  I was feeling good.... like, I'm SO prepared for this.  I had a diaper bag packed, a bag of toys, the iPad (duh), and then another bag packed full of all kinds of snacks and foods Hunter liked.  

But when we walked in to the restaurant (we got there a few minutes early) and asked him what he wanted...it was the one thing I didn't have.  Chocolate milk.  AND to top it off, the barbecue restaurant we were at didn't have it either.  So of course I picked him right up, ran half a block down the street (literally ran -- carrying a very heavy three year old) to a CVS and bought him chocolate milk. Spoiled??  Of course. Wouldn't have it any other way.

So anyways, he sat there like a perfect little angel with his spread of snacks and milk AND the iPad and didn't make a peep all through dinner.  Success!

On the way back to my house, we had to stop off at Old Navy for a new outfit.  It's like a requirement when he stays the night with me -- he gets a new outfit. And he's even old enough to kind of help pick it out.  He liked the boots and even tried them on in the store for me, and he picked out the shirt.  

Back at my house, it was movie time.  We got all set up in my bed with all his stuffed dogs (I think he brought like 4 of them), and a tv tray with cookies, milk, and the iPad.  (The iPad never left his side -- even when the movie was on, hahaha!)

I mean seriously.  How cute is this little guy?  He propped his legs right up on me!

I have a confession about what happened after this.  I got tired.  Like, really tired.  I get up early!! And I literally could not keep my eyes open any more.  So I turned the lights off, got in bed, and told Hunter to wake me up when the movie was over!  Ha - I mean I felt so bad, but he was fully engulfed in Cars, and I was struggling.  So about an hour later, he leaned over right in my face and whispered, "TeeTee, it's over!"  I turned it off, tucked him in, and said good night, and that was that.  He went right to sleep and slept all night long!

For some reason I was so nervous having him next to me.  I mean every time he rolled over or changed his breathing I sat right up and checked on him to make sure he was...still alive I guess?  I don't know.  Not used to a toddler in my bed I suppose.

Then this conversation happened around 7am:

Hunter:  rolls over and opens his eyes, smiles really big, "Hi TeeTee."

Me:  Hi Hunter

Hunter:  I have cookie now?

Me:  Of course you can have cookies now. 

:)

He did get some cookies, but he also ate a semi-normal breakfast, too.

He got TWO kinds of cereal, chocolate milk AND juice, and got to FaceTIme with Gram.  

Pretty solid breakfast if you ask me.

Especially considering he picked out all of the marshmallows from the Lucky Charms and left the rest...just like his dad used to do!  (Or probably still does...)

It was off to church after that.  

Maybe I'm bias, but I'm pretty sure he looks like a little model in his new outfit. ;)

Hunter did great in church (ie he was quiet and didn't cause a big scene).  

After that, we went to pick up Hadley, and then we all (with Tony and Christa) went out to Tony's land -- about an hour away.  

The trip started out fine.  I thought it would be fun in between these two in the back seat.

Well, that lasted all of about 20 minutes...and then the, "What time is it?" and "How much longer?"  and "Are we there yet?" started.  

They couldn't wait to jump out of the car and run...straight through the mud.

                                                                           The corn feeder was a big hit ^^

After walking around the land for awhile and doing some animal track searching, we decided to try and make it down to the river.  And I mean "down" because it was down a steep embankment.  

Tony went first, slipping and sliding down with Hadley in his arms.  It was too steep to pass Hunter down, so I took him down to a spot I thought looked much safer...all the while yelling at Tony for taking the dangerous way.

And then, sure enough, I slipped right down, too.  On my butt, now covered in mud.  And you would have thought I just stabbed Hunter the way he was screaming about it.  For the record, he was fine.  I had him on top of me and never turned loose of him, it just scared him when I fell.

Either way, we all made it down to the water (except Christa, the only smart one) and enjoyed throwing some rocks and sticks in as the big chunks of ice floated by.

Now for the fun part:  getting back UP the hill. 

Now I know it doesn't look steep, but it was.  AND it was super muddy on top of that so there was no traction.  You just slid.  So I got down as far as I could, and Tony got up as high as he could, and we passed the kids up.  It was quite the scene, but we eventually made it.

(I didn't quite get all the mud wiped off...)

It was time to hit the road back home after a few more nature scavenger hunt.  (Oh and all we found was a nasty dead opossum!)

The kids decided to take off racing back to the car.

The running lasted all of about 3 minutes...

...and then they both needed to be carried the rest of the way.

The car trip back... oh  man.  Boredom had set in and they were both screaming and pulling on any piece of my body they could get their grimy little hands on.  I had HAD it by the time we got back to the house, haha.  

Maybe I don't want 6 kids after all??  ;)