Hunt Family Connection

Tennis Lessons

Graham is finally old enough to start tennis lessons and that is just what he did this week at Eugene Swim and Tennis.

He's had his tennis raquet for a couple years now, but believe it or not, I sort of forgot that he would also need tennis shoes to participate in the lessons! I scrambled and found a great pair at Payless just before his lesson on Monday morning.

There were two instructors to wrangle about 7-8 kids between the ages of 4 and 6 - they did a great job teaching some basic skills and keeping everyone engaged and having fun :)

They even did a little teaching about how to clean up all the practice balls....

Graham was so excited to be there, and on the first day even stopped a couple people as he walked to the lesson court to tell them that he had a tennis lesson today! This session was for an hour/day for three days - G had a blast and says he would like to play more.

It was good for us to watch the lessons so we know what things we can work on with him too - between Pa-Paw, Grandma Chery, and Wil, there are plenty of years of tennis experience for G to learn from :)

Big Kid!

That's what it said on the box G's booster seat arrived in - BIg Kid! Graham sure is excited about his "big kid" status and his new booster seat. In fact he's told me how much he loves it every day (sometimes more than once) since I put it in the Trailblazer.

I'm a big fan of the booster seat too 'cause it doesn't require all kinds of wrestling to get it installed like the car seats seem to. You just set it on the seat and use the regular seat belt - EASY! It's so easy to move in and out that I even offered to drive to lunch the other day - I simply moved it out of the way so someone could sit in the back - EASY! (more on who I drove to lunch and what I was doing at work in another post soon!)

The rest of our day

We left off at nap time on Saturday - after all of the playing outside you would have thought there would be a lot of napping/resting. But alas, Graham kept begging to get off the couch and Ellie only slept for 60-90 minutes (usually on her weekend naps with me she sleeps 2-3 hours!)

Saturday afternoons Wil has been coming to get the kids, but he came down with something and couldn't take them. I had a cut and color scheduled for 3:30 and I really didn't want to reschedule if I could help it - I've let it go far too long! All of my usual "go to" sitters were out of town or unavailable, so I asked my wonderful friend Leila if the kids could come over to play while I went to my appointment and in exchange I would bring back dinner for all of us when I got done. She happily agreed that it sounded like a good plan, so after naps we got dressed and packed up to head over there. (Again - can't thank you enough Miss Leila!!)

Visiting Miss Leila, Savannah, and Matthew is sooo much fun. Graham remembered very clearly that they have this really cool car you can drive around the backyard. He found it shortly after we got there and his driving skills seemed to have improved greatly since our last visit! He was even kind enough to drive his sister around the yard....

Cracked me up to watch them driving around the yard together like this! I'm told they had a fun time and played constantly while I was at my appointment. When I got back to Leila's they were working on a mud pie...

Luckily, I had brought back an alternative for dinner - pizza pizza! We managed to get them to sit down for a few minutes to a couple bites before they all wanted to get back down and play again. By this time Ellie had even managed to figure out how to drive the car herself - yikes!!

She's actually sitting on the passenger side of the car with her left hand on the wheel 'cause it was easier for her to reach the gas pedal this way - figured it all out on her own! Again, I say YIKES! Everyone was starting to look a little tired by this point, so we packed up and headed home. Graham actually fell asleep on the way home he was so beat!

Got them home and into bed, then snapped a couple pictures of the new hair color and cut - mom asked to see :)

It feels sooo much better and I'm all ready for summer now! So many fun things coming up, so I'm super grateful to Leila for helping me keep my appointment. I'm constantly reminded what good friends and support I have.

Around here...

I took LOTS of pictures yesterday - perhaps it was a warm-up for Week in the Life which is coming up in about a month, but I just had the urge to capture out day...it was a full one.

There are sooo many pictures that I think I'll have to spread them out over a couple posts....for now let's start with Saturday morning.

LOVE the look Graham gave me for this one....


He had a hard time waking up this morning and told me he would like to sleep all day. Perhaps he's tired because he's waking up in the middle of the night to come sneak into my room and bed! Thursday and Friday night he snuck in and I was too tired to send him back to his room. Last night I realized this was becoming a bad habit and I actually got up to make sure he went back to his own bed. He tried coming in at midnight and then again at 2am - such fun!

After breakfast we got a package from the UPS guy - Graham's new booster seat! Graham has grown out of the car seat that I just got for him last summer - eeek! - so I ordered a booster seat from amazon.com that seemed to get good reviews for comfort and safety. I was pretty proud to get it all put together by myself (it came in many more pieces than I expected) so now it's time to get it in the car. Graham's very excited about the new "big boy booster", but as always, the kids were even more excited about the box it came in....

After all of the fun with the box, I suggested we head outside for a bit. Ellie was definitely on board with this and went to put her shoes on...

Most of the time she even gets them on the right feet too! She's still pretty big on doing things for herself and it takes a little longer for her to finally ask for help.

We also took her sunglasses outside - the sun seems to really bother her beautiful blue eyes. Check out the superstar....

Miss Eleanor LOVES the sandbox - she will sit in there for quite awhile on her own. Doesn't mind getting dirty at all - in fact as I was taking these pictures I noticed she was purposely sprinkling sand onto herself. She seems to get so much dirtier than Graham ever did!

Graham eventually joined us outside and there was bike riding, flower picking, and swinging...

This seems like a good place to stop for now - after playing outside for awhile we went in for a little lunch and then nap/quiet time.....more on the afternoon activities soon :)

Swimming Lessons

It's that time again - swimming lessons! I guess technically swimming lessons are available year 'round, but for me it's always been a summer activity.

We had a tough time with G in swimming lessons last summer, but he's super excited about them this summer. In fact, he told me he already knows how to swim :) I assured him that there was much more to learn.

Ellie has no idea what's ahead of her, but she was definitely interested in the swimming suits we tried on. So this is what they looked like after dinner and before leaving for our first night of lessons....

(Quick note here to my mother and anyone else that's concerned - we have a haircut appointment set for Graham for next Thursday. Poor kid won't be able to see if this goes on much longer!)

It was no easy task getting them fed, dressed and packed up, then out the door to get to the pool on time...but we did it! We were met there by Pa-Paw, Grandma Chery, and Wil - quite a crew for the first night! I got in the pool with Ellie - she had both happy and nervous moments...I think she'll be fine after a few more lesson nights. Graham did great - there were only a few kids in his class and as far as I can tell he was doing everything the instructor asked him to do. The lessons are a 1/2 hour, but it went by quickly. I brought pjs for the kids to change into after (lessons are done at 6:30 so I figured it would save a step when we got home to already be in pjs - thanks for the idea Auntie Carrie!) and they both fell asleep minutes after going to bed.

Chery took some pictures at the pool, but I haven't pulled them off of Snapfish yet - I'm sure I'll have more pictures as we go along.

It's lesson night again tonight, but Graham came down with some sort of nasty bug yesterday afternoon. He was sick during the night and has been working on getting better today. He's definitely improving, but not ready to get back in the water. Luckily he doesn't know he's missing a lesson and we'll just go back again on Monday. Wil has Ellie there though - spending some quality father/daughter time together tonight. I'm hoping G feels better soon 'cause he informed me today that it's no fun being sick. True.

Around the house...

Today was the first day of summer vacation - time to get started on all those projects I put off during the school year. This past weekend I decided to just take some time to kick back and relax - I also did a little shopping. It's time to start dressing up the rooms in my house a little bit - I'm starting with my room :)

Some of my favorite art was on sale, so I got a print for my room and I knew just where I wanted to hang it. I found a frame at Michael's (on sale for 40% off!) When I was at Target I stumbled upon this frame collage - there was just one left in bright white and it was screaming my name. And this is how they look in my room right now....

This is the wall that is directly across from my bed. Once I get some pictures of those I love most in the frames, this is the first thing I'll see in the morning - a great way to start the day I think :)

Along with pictures in the frames, this wall could also benefit from a fancy little chair to sit in while I put shoes on....still on the hunt for that. Other things I'm hoping to add to the room - curtains for the window (I kind of like THESE from Target, but am keeping my eyes open for a good deal) I need to repaint my side table as well as find some sort of headboard and artwork for above the bed.

I've also started some major work out in the garage. It's been almost one year since I moved in here and I think I've done a great job of only letting things in the house that we use, love, or find to be beautiful. This means that most everything else has been shoved out into the garage. Every time I opened the door and saw the mess, I swore that I would tackle it all this summer. And so it begins - I give you the "before" pictures....

taken from the inside looking out....

...and from the outside looking in

It will be a bit before I have "after" photos, but it's looking better already. I put much of my Christmas stuff up in the garage attic, and emptied out a lot of empty boxes and garbage. I also took a whole Trailblazer full of stuff to the Goodwill. It won't happen overnight, but it will feel good to have a handle on all the junk out there.

We also had swimming lessons tonight, but more on that another time - I'm exhuasted and falling asleep :)

Summer Vacation Begins

Yesterday was my last official work day of the school year. I say "last official" because I know I will be going back throughout the summer to do some special projects and finish up some other things.

My wonderful friend Tamra, who is also a school psychologist at 4J, will not be a school psychologist at 4J in the fall. She was offered a position at a school district in Washington and will be moving to Portland this summer. This makes me very happy for her, but very sad for me.

This picture is from "Farewell Friday at Four" last night. I will very much miss celebrating the end of the work week with Tamra...have I mentioned how much I hate change?!

There has been another change that threw me for a bit of a loop this week, but I'm working through that too. I am constantly reminded of what wonderful and supportive friends and family I have. I may feel lonely sometimes, but at the end of the day I know that I am definitely not alone :)

One thing that does not change...my wonderful kids and how happy I am that they are mine. Last night Graham asked if he could sleep in his Iron Man helmet.

When I told him goodnight he replied, "good night Iron Man mom" - too funny. I just peeked in on him this morning and the helmet is not on his head - I didn't think that would last :)

Not much planned for the weekend...maybe a bike ride and a movie with Tamra. I'm actually thinking about starting to tackle the mess that is my garage. I've been putting it off and calling it a summer project. Summer has finally arrived and it might be good to get that project out of the way as soon as possible.

Forward....

Going to Sammy's House

Since Maya's arrival, Graham has been asking when we can go to Sammy's house. I think he was a little curious about Sammy's new baby sister, but mostly I think he just wanted to go play with Sammy. We were invited to come have dinner with Sammy and his family this past Friday night - Kara's mom was also in town so we got to visit with Sam's "Grammy" too :)

The kids had fun playing inside and outside - the sandbox, bikes, and I believe many containers of toys were dumped out in several different rooms of the house! A good time was had by all :)

We had grilled salmon and these super yummy potatoes that Miss Kara fixed in the oven. The kids were most excited about the watermelon though....

MIss Ellie couldn't get enough - notice she's eating it out of both hands.

With two kids in each family now, these gatherings get a little bit louder, a little bit more active, and much more appreciated and enjoyed. It may seem a little crazy in the moment, but the kids have a blast and we all get to be in this together for a night. I'm hoping it's something we can do more regularly, especially now that summer vacation is almost upon us. (Graham has asked almost daily since we went there when we can go to Sammy's again!)

Thanks for having us over - we'll pick a date to have you all over soon :)

Shoe Heaven

My friend Tamra and I went shopping last week and we started with shoes :) I couldn't resist getting a shot of this at the entrance of DSW....

...and I certainly couldn't resist getting these once I got inside....

No fancy occasions lined up for these, but they were such a good deal. They will go with anything and the heel is perfect - they don't make me too crazy tall, and I can walk in them without looking silly.

I might just have to make up an occasion to wear them :)

A great day for baseball....

Still catching up on all of the weekend activity....on Sunday while the kids enjoyed time with Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery, I was able to go to Matt's first baseball game of the season.

He plays in The Eugene Men's Senior Baseball League (that's him catching in the photo above) and they play a double header (7 innings each) pretty much every Sunday throughout the summer.

It was another great day to be outside and it was fun to watch Matt do something that he loves.