January 28, 2009

We're alive!

Sorry for the absence.  Heath has been sick again and I just haven't been taking many pictures lately.  Here are some that I just downloaded off the pocket camera.  It'll be another few days before you hear from me again.  We're off for the long weekend and Hunter gets to spend some time with Grandma in Jax.

The bath tub mohawk
I find Hunter watching TV this way often
The kid loves headbands
Helping me make brownies
I have no idea what this was about, but it makes me laugh!

January 20, 2009

Signs

Heath's been making some signs lately.  He's had this machine for a little over a year, I think, but just hasn't had much time to spend playing with it.  For Christmas he made a few for gifts so I have some to share now!

This is probably one of our favorites.  We gave this to our dear friend, Kim, for her birthday a couple weekends ago.  They have an awesome bar in their house with lots of signs on the walls.
This was one of the first ones Heath made.  It's now on our house.
This was a Christmas gift for Uncle Ronnie.  He has a workshop where he makes custom knives.
This was a Christmas gift for Heath's dad.  He loves golf so we made this to put up in his bar area.
This was made for Heath's sister's house.
A sign for a baby's room.
This was made for Heath's dad's beach house.  It's on 25th Street.
If you're in need of a sign, just let us know!  You can email Heath at heathpowell@gmail.com

January 17, 2009

Office Turned Playroom

Just after Christmas we decided to turn our 'office' (which is really supposed to be a formal living room) into a playroom.  Hunter's toys are just getting too big and they were clogging up our family room.  We weren't sure what to do with his new train table either.  So, we got rid of the office furniture and our office is now in the room off of our bedroom.

Here's a close up of the awesome train table Heath built!  He'll be adding some rolling carts underneath, too.
Here's one side of the room.  We hope to put a pull out couch underneath the window.
Here's the other side.  We probably need to get one more of those cube units.

January 12, 2009

Just some random pictures...

Playing in Grandma W's yard with Daddy

This is one from seeing the trains that I turned into a black and white.
Aunt Tiff gave Hunter this scooter for Christmas and he's getting really good at it!  How cute is he with the helmet?
PJs and rain boots - must be a new fashion statement

January 9, 2009

A Day at Magic Kingdom

Jennifer invited us to Magic Kingdom yesterday.  We always jump at the chance to go to the parks.  I packed our lunches and ended up not spending a single penny!  Who goes to Disney and doesn't spend any money... I guess I do!  Grandma was able to tag along, too so that was fun.  It was a loooong day made even longer when we arrived home at 4pm and Hunter had not fallen asleep in the car.  We decided to go out for pizza and put Hunter to bed an hour early!

Hunter and Tommy in the playground area
Hunter spotted Buzz and wanted to go meet him.  Usually he's pretty apprehensive to get close to the characters, but not this time.
Grandma and Hunter on the People Mover (also known as a train by Hunter).  We rode it twice.  See the cute shirt I made?
SO HAPPY to be on the choo choo train!  We rode the train twice, too.
We rode the carousel.  He was very adamant about doing it himself.  He didn't even want me touching his horse.

Here are a few video clips from the day.

January 7, 2009

Craft Tiles

I had this great idea to make finger painted tiles for Christmas presents (an idea stolen from my sister-in-law) using Hunter's hand and feet prints.  You use them to make different pictures for various holidays.  We quickly realized that was a little too advanced for this year and decided to just do handprint tiles.  No one knew what they were missing and liked these just as well.  

This was a team effort.  Hunter smeared on the paint and I tried to make it look pretty.  This is now displayed in our bedroom.
In these pictures he's just painting on a tile.  He liked to use the paint brush the most, but did get his fingers a little dirty.
My little Picasso
The rinse bucket

January 6, 2009

The Jacksonville Zoo

We went to the Jacksonville Zoo last week.  I had heard that it was a really good zoo.  The ones around here aren't the best.  We spent about 3 hours there.  Hunter was most excited about the train, imagine that!  It was a good way to see the animals and learn about the zoo.

Daddy and Hunter on the train
Feeding a giraffe (Grandma and Aunt Margie are in the background watching)
Mommy and Hunter on the train
Playing in the playground area

Here's a compilation of a few video clips we took.  It's only a few seconds.  The first clip is us seeing the elephants while riding the train.  Hunter points out that they're eating and then waves goodbye to them.  The second clip is Daddy trying to get Hunter to see the buffalos, but all he's concerned with is that he can see the train.  He finally says hi to the buffalos.

January 5, 2009

Real Trains!

The day after Christmas Uncle Ronnie went with us up just across the Georgia border to a train depot that has about 50 trains a day come through.  You can just sit there and watch them all day.  You wouldn't believe the people there with their video cameras, some bring their lunch and sit and watch... train enthusiasts, I guess.  We got there and had to wait about 20 minutes before the first one came through, but we ended up seeing 3 trains in about 15 minutes time.  

Hunter had never seen a real train before, but as soon as he heard it he knew what was coming. He didn't sit still while we were waiting on the first train, but after seeing that first one he was hooked and waited patiently for the next one to come.

Look at the complete joy on his face.
He found that big leaf and held onto it.
Oh, I think I hear it!
Just taking it all in.
Waving to the conductor.

January 4, 2009

Christmas Day

The three of us woke up on Christmas morning at our house.  The first words out of Hunter's mouth were "choo choo train" as he jumped up and down in his bed.  If he only knew.  I changed his diaper and we went out to the family room where Daddy was ready with the video camera. Hunter rounded the corner by the love seat and saw his train table with the trains going around the track.  He exclaimed "CHOO CHOO TRAIN!" and pointed.  He was full of so much excitement that he did a little happy dance that I have never seen before.  It was the cutest thing.

After we exchanged presents at our house we packed the car up and headed over to Tiff's for more presents and breakfast.  Her kids got a bike ramp.  Here is Ethan taking his first ride over it.  I think he closed his eyes!
Hunter had to do like the big boys, too!
He got a mat to drive his cars on.
I think I put the camera down the rest of the day!  From Tiff's we drove to Jax.  Hunter took a nap while the adults exchanged gifts.  Then when Hunter got up he opened all of his stuff.  He got a basketball hoop and a track for his shaker cars among other things.  Here's a picture of the tree with all the gifts!

January 3, 2009

Christmas Eve

Sorry for the lack of blogging!  Our week in Jax was really busy.  We did get my mom hooked up to the internet, but it's a dial-up connection and not real fast so I didn't even attempt to take any photos off my cameras.  We got home last night and I'm just now organizing and editing photos starting from Christmas Eve.  Lots more to come throughout the week!

Three generations of Powells
Hunter rode a scooter for the first time and picked it right up
One of many takes of trying to get a good picture of 8 kids.  It went far better than I ever expected.  I should have known that Hunter would sit still for other kids.