Hunt Family Connection

A very festive weekend

What a fun weekend we had - I just love this time of year.

A few weeks ago when I was reading one of my magazines, I noticed that the Oregon Coast Aquarium was having a holiday event this weekend. Graham is a member, so we all get in for free (thanks mum-mum and pop pop!) Since Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop were out of town for the weekend, we decided to get a room at a nearby hotel. What a find that turned out to be! We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Newport, just off the oceanfront.  They have several rooms that have a double bed and a king sized bed - advertised as being perfect for families. When we walked into the room, I only saw the king sized bed and started to panic a little. As I got further into the room we discovered that the double bed was in its own little bedroom! Graham was pretty excited to be in the hotel room and even more excited to have his own room :)  He went into the room several times that afternoon, telling us he'd be "right back" - he's quite the big boy now you know!

We got to the hotel around 3:00 on Saturday and spent some time just settling in and hanging out. We went to Georgie's for dinner and after the craziness Graham demonstrated at the hotel (had to touch and play with everything), we were pleased to get a compliment on how well behaved he was at the restaurant. It will be no surprise to anyone that knows G that he ordered Mac & Cheese. Wil and I enjoyed a glass of wine and pasta dinners. Ellie was kind enough to sleep through the meal.  After dinner we made our way to the aquarium (as did hundreds of other people!) so we spent some time waiting in line. After awhile Wil did some exploring and discovered that since we are members we could have gone to a different, much shorter line. By the time we figured that all out we were able to just walk right in. Thankfully the weather was really nice over at the coast this weekend and it wasn't too chilly of a wait.

Once inside we did a little more waiting to see Santa. I've been talking to Graham about Santa for awhile now - telling him that we sit on Santa's lap and tell him what we want for Christmas.Graham was all excited about it and knew just what he was going to ask for. Ellie was in the front pack and remained quite happy until she fell asleep.  All seemed to be going very well, until it was our turn :)  Ellie woke up and started to cry (seriously - she hardly ever cries....why now??), Graham decided he'd rather sit in my lap and certainly didn't want to be too close to Santa much less tell him what he wanted for Christmas, I was trying to get the pacifier in Ellie's mouth but can't see what I'm doing 'cause she's facing away from me (Santa mentioned that it would help if I got it IN her mouth - thanks Santa....so helpful!), and while all of this is going on, Wil is snapping away with the camera.  This appears to be the best one of the bunch. 

I was sweating by the time our turn was done and as I manage to get us all back up and on our way Wil says, "well that went really well!" Not sarcasm - he was sincere. So even though I was feeling quite crazed and out of control, at least it didn't look that way to everyone else.....or at least it didn't look that way to Wil :) Even though it was past bedtime, we decided to stay and look at the fishies - Graham is sooo fun to watch there. We stumbled upon a room where there was a story teller so we sat there for a little bit - this is when it became very clear that Graham needed bedtime and Ellie was going to want to eat very soon so we high-tailed it back to our hotel.

Graham and I enjoyed the continental breakfast at the hotel. Graham went to pick out a table to sit at and was excited to be sitting in a grown-up chair without a booster seat. What he meant to yell out across the room was that he was a big boy ('cause he was sitting in the grown-up chair), but what he ended up yelling repeatedly was this..."I'm a good boy mama - I'm being a good boy"  Over and over again, which kind of made it sound like he was trying to save himself from the crazy and mean mommy that punishes him severely when he's NOT a good boy (I don't physically harm him...no matter what he tells you....seriously!)

The weather was so beautiful at the coast and the sun was shining when we got back to Eugene, so I thought it would be a good day to get our Christmas tree. What I didn't realize was how crazy cold and windy it was in Eugene. We figured that out pretty quick when we arrived at the tree farm. But we were there, and I was determined to get our tree so I can get it up and decorated this week. We bundled up and started wandering through the mud to find our tree. It was too cold to take many pictures, but I managed to catch this one of the boys coming out with our tree.

It was so nice to finally be home last night. Everyone slept quite well after very exciting and busy weekend away. I'm still working on my December Daily pages from the weekend, but should be able to get caught up tonight. Wil's bringing the tree in the house tonight and I plan to start decorating tomorrow evening. This week we are also looking forward to Uncle Bill's arrival and family dinner on Thursday. Lots more holiday fun to come!

TGIF

I'm happy to report that this first week back to work went by pretty fast. I finally got access to my cell phone pictures [thanks to the wonderful customer service agent I talked to at AT&T :)] so I can share a picture of my desk from the beginning of the week...

Kara brought me these beautiful purple tulips and the sign to make my desk a happier place to be this week - THANKS KARA! I've been getting organized and going out to my schools to check in - everyone has been very welcoming and seems happy to see me. Everyone also seems to have long lists of things for me to do - it's going to be a very busy year.

Our morning routine is a bit rough yet - I've been getting G and E to daycare by 8am or shortly thereafter, but that gets me to work a little bit later than I would like. I'm sure we'll get better at this - Graham is already starting to wake up earlier and be a little more cooperative about leaving the house when I say it's time.

We had fun watching the Duck game last night and are very excited that they will be playing in the Rose Bowl on January 1st.  We'll be sure to bring lots of Oregon Duck gear to Wisconsin so that everyone can help cheer them on.

I've been keeping up with my Daily December pages - you can see them all by visiting THIS PAGE.

We have fun holiday plans for the weekend so you'll be hearing more about that soon - happy Friday everyone!

December Begins

I'm having a hard time believing it's December already! I'm finally ok with hearing Christmas songs on the radio though - starting before Thanksgiving is a little crazy if you ask me.

I started my December Daily album today. I've decided to post them all in one page so throughout December I'm planning to update THIS PAGE on a daily basis (you can find the December Daily link under "PAGES" on the right side of the screen) - we'll see how the daily updating goes. I got the December 1st page done though so go check it out :)

It's been a week of big adjustments with me going back to work, but I think we're doing ok. HUGE THANKS to Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery for having Graham stay overnight on Sunday so I only had to worry about getting Ellie up and ready to go on Monday morning. I had scheduled an 8:15 ultrasound for her, so I was starting to worry about how I was going to get us all up and out on time. They took Graham Christmas tree hunting and it looks like they all had a lot of fun....

Today was the first day I had to get everyone up and out to daycare - I think it went pretty well. I got up early enough to get myself all ready to go and then still have enough time to watch Super Why with Graham while cuddling in our bed. He really seems to need that cuddle time before he gets going in the morning - hates to be rushed out too quickly. Since Super Why isn't on until 8am, I bought some episodes on itunes so we can watch them on my 'puter. I also brought up my breakfast and some Cheerios and milk for Graham to snack on - it's a pretty cozy set-up!

I got everyone out the door and to daycare by 8am, which got me to work around 8:15 - not bad for day 2 I'm thinking....

I found a very nice card from our daycare provider in our bag today....

What a nice thing to hear this week :)  I feel very lucky to have a daycare provider that cares so much about our kids and takes the time to do nice things for us too. The worksheet behind the note is one they worked on today. She says that Graham likes to look at things like this and has no problem telling her the answer (which one is bigger/smaller) but when he's asked to write or color on the worksheet, he's not so interested. He's going to be one of those kids that doesn't want to show his work ;)  I love that they do "homework" there - he has learned sooo much!

December Daily Project: Preparation

It's our first Christmas as a complete family of four and I'm feeling compelled to document it. For the past few years I've been watching others do December Daily projects and it all just seemed so overwhelming to me given everything else that had to be done. It seems that doing prep ahead of time is the key and just plain making this a priority will also be important in getting the project done. The goal is to have an album in the end that documents our holiday season activities, feelings, and traditions.

So to prepare and get psyched up for the project I've been doing a lot of reading. I've been inspired by the following resources:

December Daily project by Ali Edwards - she's really the pioneer of December Daily and has been doing the project for several years now - you can follow her process and get TONS of info from her blog.
Holiday in Hand by Jessica Sprague - a free class that was offered this year - lots of good page prompt ideas and some great free digital goodies
Pre-Planning Digital Pages and Projects by Katie - a great post detailing how Katie is planning for her all digital December Daily album

Next step is to gather materials, so that's just what I did the other day. I did a search of Christmas goodies from Designer Digitals, made note of the products I might want to use for my pages, then raided my stash and made copies of those goodies to put into a dedicated folder to keep on my desktop called "December Daily Materials"  Here are the goodies that I've gathered so far, complete with links to the DD store in case you want to go grab some of these things yourself.

1. December Daily Template Package 2. December Daily Template Package Vol 02  3. Speed Byte No 122  4. Christmas Dreams Kit  5. December Magic Kit   6. Balsam Hill Paper Pack  7. Holiday Hand Drawn Brushes  8. Holiday Word Art  9. Krafty Cut-Ups: Holiday  10. Christmas Dreams Glitters  11. Krafty Cuts: Christmas  12. Posted Holiday Postage Stamps  13. Absolutely Acrylic: Festive Trees  14. StraightLine Stitch Red No 01  15. Stitched by Anna Borders Red No 01

I'm sure I'll add some things here and there, but to keep things as easy to complete as possible, I'm going to try to stick to these products for the most part.

I will be using this album for my pages (in the chestnut color), and in the window that you can see through on the front, I'm going to arrange some of these cute square stickers.

December starts tomorrow and I'm sure I'll be sharing my pictures and pages along the way :)

it was fun while it lasted...

My maternity leave has come to an end and I will be returning to work tomorrow morning (after I take Ellie to her ultrasound appointment) It's been three wonderful months at home with my baby girl and I'm very sad to see it end.

This has felt like an extended summer vacation since I never started work in the fall, and I feel very good about everything I got accomplished. I tackled many organization projects before Ellie arrived and feel like I was able to get a lot of things in place that will make working full-time with two kids a little more manageable. I was able to continue working on projects even after Ellie arrived - she has been very cooperative and flexible about how we spend our days together.

I will really miss the pace of our days though and just being able to sit and watch my little girl grow and learn. I will also miss my easy-going mornings with Graham - he's been getting up and crawling into bed with me to watch Sid the Science Kid and Super Why before getting ready to go to daycare. It's been a great way for me to get some cuddle/alone time with him amidst all of these big changes. I'm going to try and get up and ready early enough so that we can still have some of that time together - he doesn't do very well when I try to rush him out of the house in the morning.

I never thought I would be a good full-time stay-at-home mom, and I still don't. There are some things I am looking forward to about being back at work, but for some reason it just seems harder this time... I'm not a big fan of change, so maybe that's part of it. I think I'm also really worried about the amount of work I'm returning to - they have only had part-time help to fill my spot while away. I'm worried about keeping up with all of the chores at home after working all day, and still having enough time and energy for two kids. I'm sure once I get back into the swing of things it will be ok, but right now it just all seems really overwhelming.

I leave you with a page I put together a page for Ellie's book that talks about our time together these past few months.....it's all gonna be ok (I'll be reciting that to myself quite a bit tomorrow I think!)

click HERE to find out about the supplies used to make this page

Thanksgiving

Wil's Uncle Paul and Aunt Terry have been hosting Thanksgiving dinners for as long as I've been a part of this family and I would imagine long before that as well. We are very thankful to have been invited to spend the holiday with them again this year.

I was a bit bummed that it was raining so hard that we couldn't get pictures outside, so the lighting isn't so awesome and it's a little blurry, but I think everyone is smiling...

Graham had a lot of fun playing with his cousins Alisha and Luke, and was especially in awe of Uncle Scott, who is a firefighter. When Scott told him what he does, Graham went to the window to look for Uncle Scott's fire truck :)

The food was quite yummy - one turkey was done in the oven and the other was smoked. Grant did the carving honors (as tradition requires!)

Fun was had by all, cards were played into the night, and there was much to be thankful for.

So Thankful....

(supplies all found at Designer Digitals by Cathy Zielske, Pattie Knox, Anna Aspnes, and Katie Pertiet)

Wishing all of our family and friends a very happy Thanksgiving and a weekend filled with family, friends, and good food :)

We have much to be thankful for - wanted to list a few things....

• Graham and Eleanor - we are blessed with two happy and healthy children that make every day better
• LOTS of family and friends that love us and want to spend time with us - we always have somewhere to go or someone to turn to
• Technology - we can see the family and friends that we don't get to see on a regular basis - this blog, skype, emails....they all help us be closer together even though there are many miles between us
• Our jobs - not only are we thankful that we have them, but we feel very lucky to actually enjoy what we do
• Each other - it's quite a journey we are on and I think it's safe to say that we both feel very lucky to have each other along for the ride

Life is good - bring on the pumpkin pie ;)

OC Thanksgiving

This morning I got up early to make cheesy potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner at Wil's school.

The staff makes and then serves the meal to the entire student body. I would imagine that this is the only Thanksgiving dinner that many of these kids get - it was pretty great to see them all there together. With every event that I go to at Opportunity Center, I become more and more impressed with the staff there and their dedication to what they do. They don't just teach these kids, they make connections with them and give them so much of themselves. Wil is very happy there and I totally understand why - they really are a family.

This picture is such a great example of what makes this group so special. Working together here are current staff of OC, a retired OC teacher, a frequent OC substitute teacher, and the spouse of the one of the teachers. Everyone is welcome and everyone wants to help out and be a part of what's going on there. In fact, the secretary (who is new to the staff this year) brought along her parents and her daughter to help with the cooking!

I had to leave early to get to a meeting, but I'm told my cheesy potatoes went over pretty well :) I'm just pretty happy to have been part of this OC holiday.

Public Service Announcement: Joe's Garage Rocks!

On Monday morning it was a bit chilly and the windows on the Trailblazer were fogged up. I started rolling windows down and back up again so I could see out of them, but the front passenger side window got stuck about halfway down. I couldn't get it back up or put it down any further...it was just stuck in the middle, making a horrible grinding noise.

I wasn't terribly excited about spending one of my last days of maternity leave at the garage, but something had to be done in a quick hurry. I called my very favorite garage (Joe's) and they had me come in at 1:30 for an oil change and to check out the window.

After the oil change was finished they gave me a call to let me know it was done. They also let me know that they had done some research and it looked like the window problem would still be under warranty - they had actually called the dealer and checked on this!

The fix would have been about $300 if Joe's had never bothered to check and just went ahead with the repair. This is exactly why I've been taking my cars to Joe's Garage for many years now - I trust them! They really are good people and I have always felt like they are telling me the truth and looking out for my best interest. They take the time to build relationships with their customers and I have always felt quite welcome (and remembered!) there.

Of course when I went to the service center at the dealership, I got a lecture about why I should be getting the Trailblazer serviced there.  I wanted to tell him that it's these kind of lectures that actually keep me from wanting to do business with them.

So just to recap:

JOE'S GARAGE IS AWESOME - if you're in the Eugene, Oregon area, you should definitely check them out.
Joe's Garage - 888 West 1st Ave. - Eugene, OR - 97402 - 541-343-1814

Pictures and ABCs

It took me a couple of days (never enough time to get it done in one sitting), but I'm finally done sorting through, editing, and backing up the pictures from September and October. You can find them by clicking the links in the previous sentence, or by clicking on Hunt Family Photos over there on the right -------->

Just a reminder - the Hunt Family Photos page has links to our picture albums at Snapfish. You can order prints from their website, and you can also download the full resolution photos from their site so you can  put them on your own computer if you'd like (it does cost to download the pics, but it's really cheap!) I've  added a little tutorial to the bottom of the Hunt Family Photo page to help you figure out how to download the hi-res images to your computer - go check it out if you're interested.

It's always fun to go back and look at the pictures - once in awhile I find something that I had completely forgotten about. For example....

 

This picture was taken while my aunties were here visiting in October and just got lost in all of the excitement of their visit. Our friend Craig had stopped by and it was the first time he saw Ellie awake. Looks safe to say that Ellie is a big fan of Craig's, just like the rest of the family :) 

I also have some video to share. Graham has been doing a LOT of talking and also singing lately. I got some video of him singing the ABC song (his version of it) last night. He's singing really quietly so you have to turn the volume up a bit and listen closely as he's singing to Ellie. He misses a few letters here and there, but you get the idea :) G gets a lot of practice with the ABC song because they sing it at daycare while they are washing hands (to make sure they are washing long enough).

I think that catches us up for the moment - it's my last week of maternity leave to I have thoughts on that to share in an upcoming post. I also have a public service announcement coming up after a bit of an adventure that Ellie and I had today. For now though, it's time to get Miss Ellie her last bottle so I can get some sleep....night night!

Pictures found...

It really does seem they were able to retrieve all of the data that was on the bad hard drive - yay! I had just uploaded some pictures from my camera when it crashed, so I'm just now finally getting them edited to share....a little leftover from Halloween :)

Auntie Linda gave us this onesie when she came to visit and the pants (hand-me-downs from our friend Anna) were a perfect match! I give you 'Ellie the Friendly Ghost"....

I also wanted to try and take a better picture of Eleanor in her Halloween costume - between bad lighting and all of her sleeping on the night of Halloween, I never got a good shot. So here's what we ended up with....

 

Fun family fact about this costume - I originally got this for Graham to wear on his first Halloween, but he grew too tall so fast, that his little legs came busting out of the bottom!  Luckily it fit Eleanor perfectly :)

I'm working on a special Halloween album, inspired by Cathy Zielske, that will document their costume choices each year. You can find out more about her album and get templates to make your own on her blog here: BOO ALBUM

Here are the pages I have done for my album so far....

Putting it all back together

I finally got my computer back on Wednesday - that was quite possibly the longest 1 1/2 weeks ever! It's amazing how dependent I am on my computer and how lost I would have felt if I had lost all of the data on it. Lesson learned - no matter how new your computer is, the hard drive could crash at any given moment - back it up! I will be backing up more frequently from now on...

I've been spending a lot of time putting my computer back together - putting files back where they belong, downloading programs like Skype and Adobe Reader, and re-loading software like PSE and Lightroom. It's like starting all over again with a new 'puter so it's definitely taking much longer than I thought it would.

I'm also unloading pictures and movies from my cameras - should have some "catching up" posts coming soon!

from this past weekend...

I couldn't wait for my computer any longer - I had to download some pictures from my camera onto my back-up 'puter. I wanted to share this shot of me and Ellie from this past weekend - LOVE that strawberry hat (thanks Gwen!)

We were doing a little work outside - here's Graham helping Wil do a little digging...

Love fall.....love hanging out with my family....good times.

More tales from the potty....

It seems we might be on a roll here. Last night Graham asked to go potty several times, and was successful 2 of those times! I showed great enthusiasm and decided that after dinner we should make a trip to Target to get some Pull-Ups and M&Ms (he gets a couple M&Ms from me when he goes on the potty). Graham was very excited and for the first time in a long time was very cooperative and well-behaved at the store. We talked about it ahead of time and I told him if we went he would have to stay in the cart the whole time...and he did! Never even asked to get out :)

Graham has no problem getting his diaper off to go potty, but last night he wanted to try putting it back on by himself. I haven't managed to do a good job of putting it back on myself while he's standing up, so the hope is that the pull-ups will make him fairly self-sufficient with the on/off process...he does like to do things all by himself!

We'll see how it goes - I will definitely still be using diapers at night 'cause I haven't noticed that he stays dry all night long, but Sabrina has mentioned that he's staying dry more often during the day. This is definitely uncharted territory for me, so any advice is welcome. I do have some big boy undies in his drawer (thanks to Nana!) and I'm hoping we'll get to try those out soon too. 

Big, exciting times here in the Hunt Household!

"I went pee on the potty!"

That's a direct quote from Graham this morning :) We've been very slowly entering the land of potty training, but hadn't put a lot into it. We figured there was enough upheaval with a new baby in the house, the last thing we needed was another change/stress.

At daycare, though, I think Sabrina has been doing a lot of work on sitting on the potty. She's been putting him on the potty for awhile now, especially when he's dry after a nap. Lately they've been sitting on the potty more often and every once in a great while he will actually go. I think it's only been a couple of times though.

We've had him sit on the potty here from time to time - no pressure - just whenever the mood struck him. I recently told him that he might be able to get some M&Ms if he went pee or poop on the potty. This has made Graham a little more determined to use the potty, but we had still never seen any action.....until today that is!

We were playing Legos in the play room, and Graham looked at me and said, "Can I poop somewhere else?" - usually he goes to a quiet place, away from us to do his business. I suggested we go to the potty to poop.  We get there, he pulls his pants down, takes diaper off, and gets on the potty....then nothing. I really thought it was going to happen, but no. I sat in there with him for a bit, then said I was going to take care of a few things in the kitchen - I would come back and check on him in a little bit. After a few minutes I hear him yelling for me from the bathroom, "I PEED!  Mommy, Mommy - I PEED IN THE POTTY!" I went in to check it out and sure enough, there it was in the potty! We got everything all cleaned up with pants back on, then he asked if he could have his M&Ms - you betcha buddy!

We're a long way from being fully trained, but I think we're off to a pretty good start. It sure would be nice to only buy one size of diapers :)

You did what?!

It's 10:30 pm and Graham wandered out of his room and down the hall to stand in our doorway. I ask him what he's doing here and remind him that he needs to sleep in his bed like a big boy. He wanders over to my side of the bed, and then I notice that he has no bottoms on - no pants, no diaper....no nothing! I asked him why he took off his pants and diaper and he replied, "Because I did!" Well that makes sense then...thanks for clearing that up :)

Cuddle Time

Sometimes Graham comes home from daycare in a bit of a mood and needs some extra attention from me...today was definitely one of those days. I asked him if he needed some cuddle time and once he calmed down a bit and wandered around the house wimpering, he came back to me and said "need cuddle time mommy" Hard to say no to that! So we settled in on the couch and spent some quality cuddle time together before I had to get dinner started. We had some more good cuddle time before he went to bed too while he watched Caillou.  Such a sweet little guy when he wants to be :)  He was also really into "telling" baby sister things tonight - he's been very good to her lately (more often than not!).

And big thanks to Pa-Paw for sending along a picture to share

Graham likes to help "mix" - he has helped me make eggs, pancakes, and muffins. When he stayed at Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery's house this week he helped with the breakfast eggs. Here's hoping he'll be making me eggs for breakfast in bed one day soon :)

Only words tonight...

....no pictures 'cause my computer with all my pictures is at the Mac store.  It makes me sad thinking of it there, on a shelf with other broken 'puters...just waiting for someone to give it some attention. But it seems it could take awhile for me to get it back. When I called to check on it on Monday, they told me they were way behind because many of their techs have been out sick with the flu. I've decided this must be a lesson in patience for me and a cue to work on some projects that don't involve my computer.  I've been overhauling my file cabinet and even started a new book.

I wasn't able to avoid the sick I was talking about in my last post and spent most of the weekend in bed or on the couch. Fever, coughing, achy - just plain miserable I guess. I'm finally starting to feel a bit better today and I've made it through most of the day without any medication.  I think I'll need some ibuprofin before bed though 'cause my head is hurting again. Wil was a trooper and helped out LOTS over the weekend - I really needed the rest. Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery have been a HUGE help too - we are so lucky to live so close to family. Graham loves spending time with them too so it's really easy and comfortable for us all :)

I went in for my 6-week follow-up appointment with my dr. this week (nevermind it's actually 10 weeks since I actually gave birth!) Everything looks good and I was quite proud to show off our baby girl too. After having all those concerns about her weight prior to birth, I was thrilled to tell Julie she is now at the 60th percentile. I really like my dr. so much that I think I'm going to stick with her for my annual visits - since I don't plan on having any other children there wouldn't be any other excuse to go see her! 

There really isn't much else going on - Graham has been talking more and more every day and everyone who spends time with him comments on how fun it is to listen to all of these new sentences coming out of his mouth. I just took him in for a haircut today, so he just looks like a little man!  He's growing up so fast and it's so amazing to watch. He seems to be doing better with Ellie too - helping more than he hurts her these days :)   Eleanor is doing GREAT and I can't believe she hasn't picked up any of the sick bugs flying around here (pausing to knock on wood!) She's so sweet and smiling so often now. Every morning when I go in to get her she flashes this big huge smile - it is the BEST way to start the day!

I'm still trying to figure out a good bedtime routine that's going to get me the most rest as I start thinking about going back to work. I had been waiting up until the 11:00ish feeding to go to bed myself, but I don't think that's going to get me enough sleep when I'm working. If I go to bed earlier, I guess it will just mean I might have to get up an extra time for a feeding. Last night she slept for 6 hours in a row - the longest amount of time between feedings so far.  I hope it's the beginning of a trend.

Speaking of bedtime, I hear Eleanor calling for me now and I'm ready to get her settled down for the night - mom duties call!