Hunt Family Connection

Shopping!

Graham slept in this morning (yay!) - once he got up and had breakfast, we got him all packed up to spend the day with Auntie Carrie and his cousins. After dropping him off, mom and I drove to Eau Claire and spent the day shopping. We returned a couple of Christmas items that didn't fit, and searched the after-Christmas sales for some good deals. We both went home with some goodies and had a nice time together, so I think the day was a success :) Oh - and I also got my "mall Chinese food" for lunch, so I was a very happy camper. There are some eats I have to take advantage of while I'm here in Wisconsin, and that's one of them. The Chinese place in the food court at the mall is just soooo yummy - I have to make sure I get there every time we're here.

I'm told Graham had a good day and only had 3 major incidents with Mara ;) I do think they'll be getting along so well by the time we're ready to go - ha ha! We're going to have to video tape their interactions so we can show them one day how funny they were at this age.

No big plans tonight for New Year's Eve. I got Joel and Carrie set up with wireless internet (thanks for the technical support Wil!) and just watched some of the New Year's Eve celebrations on tv with mom - dad went to bed early 'cause he wasn't feeling very well. I wish I could say I'm going to make it to see the new year arrive, but I know better than that....I'm tired and need to sleep while I can - there's no telling when G is going to decide to get up early or sleep in.

2008 was a great year for us - Wil got a wonderful job and G continues to grow and experience new things. Life is good :)  We're lucky to be surrounded by good family and friends who are healthy and happy. I simply wish for more of the same in the new year....

Happy Anniversary!

Today was my mom and dad's anniversary - their 36th if I did my math correctly. We had a nice dinner at my brother's house to celebrate their fantastic accomplishment - CONGRATS again :)

The day was long and I think we were all ready for bed early tonight.  Dad stayed home and played with G and I before he went to the funeral, and Mom came by after the funeral to have lunch with us before heading back to work. In between all of that it started snowing - I don't know how much we ended up getting, but it was enough to make my errand outing a little more interesting this afternoon. Luckily they handle snow much better here than back in Eugene, so it wasn't too much trouble.

We 'skyped' with Wil again today - Graham gets the biggest kick out of it!  It's nice to be able to see and talk to him while we're so far away. Graham also seemed to be rather mischievous today so I feel like I did a lot of running around to redirect him. Dad watched him while I was out on my errands, so that was a nice little break. Graham and I will also be getting a break from each other tomorrow - Carrie offered to watch him while mom and I go shopping in Eau Claire (THANKS CARRIE!)

I can't believe that December is almost over - looks like I'm going to achieve that goal of a daily December post....only one more to go!

Visiting

Today was much more relaxed and we just did some visiting with friends and family.  I was surprised to see Graham sleep in until 10:00 this morning - hard to say when he actually woke up though, because when I walked into his room at 10 to check on him, he was wide awake just looking at a book quietly.

We had breakfast then headed over to Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa's house for a visit. We checked out their big basket of toys and chatted for awhile. We went home and waited for my friend Donna to arrive for a visit. She stayed for lunch and we had a very nice chat for the better part of the afternoon. We also visited a bit with Wil during Donna's visit because I wanted to show her Skype. Graham LOVED being able to see his daddy on the screen and couldn't stop smiling and waving - it was very sweet. Graham didn't want to miss a bit of Donna's visit and wasn't too keen on taking his nap, so he didn't get to sleep until around 3:30 or 4:00ish - I ended up waking him up for dinner.

After dinner we did some more visiting with family at the funeral home (my dad's aunt/grandpa's sister had passed away right around Christmas) but left there early to go to Joel and Carrie's house for one more visit of the day :)  Graham enjoyed playing with their toys and seeing their puppy dog, Bella.

I thought it was a pretty uneventful day, but looking back it seems we did a bit of running here and there.

The new year is quickly approaching and I've been thinking about my word for the coming year. Two years ago I chose "breathe" - that was the year I was pregnant with Graham and breathe seemed appropriate for a variety of reasons.  Last year my word was "enjoy" because I really wanted to focus on enjoying the moment.  I have one in mind for this year - will let you know more about it when the new year arrives :)

One more Christmas....

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with my parents and brother's family yesterday. Graham was apparently catching up on sleep and didn't get up until 9:30ish. We had a big Sunday breakfast then played a little bit before my brother and his family arrived.

The gifts were all put under the tree and we dug in! It was a challenge to keep the little ones separated (so as not to harm or irritate each other in any way) and keep them from opening anyone and everyone's gifts :)  We had to abandon our "one at a time" procedure so it was hard to keep up and see what everyone was getting. It was also harder to take pictures, so I don't have as many as I usually would. I only edited a few for the post and will get to the rest later - will also be anxious to see what shots my dad got.

One of the most popular gifts was this one that my dad got...

The kids all wanted to play with Papa's new toy, and in a rare moment of peace and sharing, this happened...

After opening gifts the kids had a bite to eat and the little ones went down for naps. The grown-ups played cards while they slept and enjoyed some quiet :) After they woke up we had our traditional Christmas eats and then played with new toys. Mara brought out an older toy to play with too - the cow sings and dances so Mara would press the button to get him started, and Graham got his groove on....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a lot of fun and must have all been really good this year because we opened a lot of presents :) The best gift of all of course is being able to be here to celebrate Christmas with my family - I'm having a great time and am looking forward to the week ahead.

Here in Wisconsin...

Well we made it!! It wasn't the most pleasant flight I've ever had with Graham, but it definitely could have been much worse. We actually made it into Minneapolis 20 minutes early, but ended up stuck on the plane for 45 minutes waiting for a gate to open up. That was pretty tough because we couldn't get up and move around at all. I do have to say though, these trips often restore my faith in people. As Graham and I were pre-boarding ('cause we need more help/time than the average traveler) a very nice man offered to help me by strapping in G's carseat. Most anyone that has had children was sympathetic to our situation and reassured me that "we've all been there!"

Once we got off the plane (FINALLY) we trekked on down to baggage, found our gear (and my mom and dad), and ran around a little before having to put G in the carseat yet again. The drive to mom and dad's house was pretty challenging - a very thick fog had rolled in, adding at least 30 minutes to our drive time. Graham had about had it with all the travel by the time we arrived and just wanted OUT of his carseat.

It's worth all the troubles though when you see moments like this....

 

Graham sure does love his Papa and has been having a great time hanging out and playing with him (and Nana too of course!). I'm told he asked for Papa before me when Nana got up with him this morning.

We had Christmas dinner with my Dad's family today. We're getting larger and larger in number, so this year we had Christmas at Club 10 - a local bar/bowling alley/restaurant. It was so nice to have everyone at the table together...the  food was fixed for us and someone else did the dishes :)

After dinner the kids played and wandered around some. Graham found these puppies under the tree and spent quite a bit of time petting them - cousin Aubrie sat with him for a bit too.

The kids all took a nap (some longer than others) and then we all gathered at mom and dad's house for cookies, drinks, and presents!  All of the little ones opened at once, so this is what that kind of chaos looks like....

Graham got some fun new toys and books from my aunts/uncles and grandparents - of course at the end of the day after everyone was gone, he had the most fun with a giant shopping bag that someone had brought their gifts in! I'm still editing pictures from the day and will have a link to share with family that's interested at some point - I'm just too tired to do any more right now.  We have a busy day tomorrow too as my brother and his family are coming over to have our own little family Christmas. 

Thanks everyone for a wonderful day - we enjoyed seeing everyone and really appreciate the fun gifts for G :)

Christmas Video Clips

Today is our travel day and I don't anticipate that I will have time (or energy) to put together a post. So I'm writing this ahead of time and setting it to post while we're in the air.

I've assembled some of my favorite clips from Christmas Eve and one clip that I shot after we saw Santa Claus - enjoy!

First up is this clip of Graham saying "Santa" - we had just seen him and he kept saying Santa over and over again....



So then we jump to Christmas Eve - this first clip is of Graham coming downstairs after his bath and discovering that Santa had been there.



Next is a little sample of Graham's Christmas present opening technique - Wil taught him to really get into it and use sound effects - RAWRRR!



And finally, while we were opening presents the Drummer Boy song came on the radio and out of the blue, G started singing along - cracked me up!! 



Enjoy the clips and next time I'll be posting from Wisconsin (if all has gone well!)

Christmas Day - more good times!

This morning we got up and had some yummy breakfast rolls, then hung around the house until heading over to Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery's house...

Graham was a bit tired and wasn't really into having his picture taken, so this is the best picture I could get of the three of us...

Not perfect, but a great shot to remind me what we looked like today.

We had a fun time opening gifts before the rest of Chery's family/friend arrived for dinner. Graham was again quite happy to help everyone open their gifts - he really is getting the hang of this present thing!

G was a little bit crabby right before nap, but he still had a laugh or two in him for Pa-Paw. They took turns trying to balance this can of balls on their head. Bet you didn't realize just how hilarious that can be ;)

While G was napping, we had our Christmas dinner - lasagna! Graham woke up from nap and went out for a walk - then while everyone else played a card game, he played some more with me. Well, mostly he just walked around seeing what he could get into!

We came home and had turkey noodle hotdish with the leftovers from last night's dinner (YUM!) Wil was in charge of watching Graham while I got started packing for our trip. I can't remember if I have mentioned it at all, but Graham and I will be heading out for Wisconsin tomorrow to visit my family.

As it turns out, I'm not very good at packing light. I did pretty good though and am just about ready to go. We're hoping for good luck at the airport - it's been a mess in Portland for the last week or so, but hopefully things have improved and our flight will get out on time with no complications. I'm looking forward to seeing my family and celebrating Christmas with them - we'll be staying for a little over a week.

Time to get to sleep so I'm ready for the journey ahead - traveling alone with a toddler seems a bit crazy.....pray for us!!

Christmas Eve - I love it!

Santa always came to our house on Christmas Eve when I was growing up - turns out that's when he comes to my house here in Oregon too :)

I had a great day and got lots done - when one is awakened by their child at 4:30am it leaves plenty of time for productivity!

This morning G and I went to the grocery store to get a few things, then came home for a little lunch, followed by a nap. While G was napping, I managed to get all of the presents wrapped for today and tomorrow. I got three loads of laundry done so we have clean clothes to pack and I baked breakfast rolls for the morning.

I made a yummy turkey dinner....

.....and Graham decided to help by putting the placemats out on the table! I swear I don't make him do this stuff - he just loves to clean up and "help"

After dinner we played a little bit, then I got G into the tub while we were waiting for Santa. When G and I came downstairs we discovered that Santa had been there and left a few gifts for us to open.

Wil has been teaching Graham to really tear into the gifts and make these big "rawrrrr" kind of noises when doing so.  He caught on and was pretty funny to watch.  I have video of it, but the battery ran out before I could load it onto he computer. Graham really enjoyed opening the presents, but didn't seem too worried about whose presents he was opening - sometimes we'd look up and he'd already be tearing into something else. I don't imagine that will go over so well with his cousins in Wisconsin, so we'll have to work on that :)

The big exciting Santa present this year was this play kitchen! Upon seeing it, Graham started  opening/closing doors, turning buttons, and trying to put things on the shelves and in the oven. After presents were opened I got some of his dishes from the kitchen and he started "mixing" up something to eat.  I hope that he'll enjoy playing with this and will be less inclined to hang on me when I'm trying to cook in the kitchen...now he can cook too!

We are so lucky to be able to be together for Christmas in our nice warm house with presents under the tree - I promise I take none of that for granted :)  The best gift of all will be spending another year together as a family....

I just finished my annual viewing of Christmas Eve on Sesame Street - G started watching it with me earlier, but lost interest. My eyelids are getting very heavy so I will call it a night - we have much more celebrating ahead of us!

Twilight

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night - I was trying to finish this....

.....so that today Wil and I could go see it in the theater - good stuff! Of course the book is always much better, but it was fun to see how they cast everyone and how it matched up (or didn't!) with the pictures in our minds.

It's always nice when Wil and I read the same books - we had a great discussion about it over dinner last night and again after seeing the movie today.  Wil's already getting close to the end of book 4 and I'm just starting book 2 - it's definitely not for everyone, but Wil and I are enjoying it.

Graham is the other reason I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. His coughing woke him up around 4am, and I spent about an hour trying to get him back to sleep. After getting him back in his own bed and asleep, I was having trouble getting back to sleep and was probably awake for another hour :(

I had a great breakfast with Kara this morning at 5th Street Market and we did a little browsing at the toy store too - I found a couple of new things to bring on the flight with Graham on Friday.

I'm not sure why, but Graham isn't eating a whole lot lately - he seems pretty happy though and only has that little cough and occasional runny nose. I really hope that he is able to sleep through the night tonight - we can all use the sleep as we gear up for a busy day tomorrow. There are Christmas presents to wrap, laundry to do, and a little grocery shopping to be done - I'm very much looking forward to our Christmas Eve together though :)

Graham at 20 months

 

Twenty sure does seem like a lot of months! Graham is more and more of a big boy every day. The first thing that comes to mind about what he's doing right now, is how helpful he always wants to be. He likes to help me carry the laundry basket into the living room, as soon as he sees a spill or "uh oh" on he floor he runs to the kitchen to get a towel to clean it up, and whenever he finds garbage (like empty wrappers on Wil's computer desk) he grabs it and takes it to the cupboard where the trash can is. Even with the child lock on the cupboard he can open it just far enough to put the garbage inside.

He LOVES to dance and listen to music, he loves hats (as you can see in the picture), and he still loves animals so much. We took him to the mall the other day and when we rolled by Santa there was no reaction - he just kind of stared off at something else. When we rolled by the pet store, he started to wave at all of the animals in their cages. He's very good at petting cats and dogs "nicely" with only little reminders  now and again.

Graham is pretty easy going and we have no problems dropping him off at daycare or with his grandparents - at home though, he's been a bit picky about who does things for him....sometimes only mommy will do.

He is trying to say almost all of the words that we do (which can be problematic - MUST watch my vocabulary!) but a lot of what he says does require some translation :) He's wearing 18 months sized pants, 2T sized tops, and size 6 shoes - he likes to get himself dressed when he can but is also willing to accept help when it's not going well.

He's a great little boy and we are lucky to have him!

Thanks Grandma Chery and Pa-Paw for taking pictures today - he was at daycare all day while I ran last minute Christmas errands and then Grandma and Pa-Paw picked him up from daycare for their regular Monday date.  Wil and I enjoyed a nice dinner together at the Olive Garden - it's always so nice to have a little time to talk to each other without interruption :)