Hunt Family Connection

Week in the Life - Day Seven

We've reached the last day of week in the life - it's a little bit short on pictures because most of it was spent doing things that I've already documented.

Smiled when I saw the flowers in the sun this morning :)

Wanted to make sure and get out on my bike before it warmed up too much...

Had a great ride, then came home to shower, eat breakfast, and watch an episode of Army Wives :)

I was invited to a baby shower for my friend Teresa today, so after breakfast and Army Wives, I got ready for that and wrapped up her gift.

I did a little shopping at the mall before meeting Kara there to drive to the shower together. The shower was very nice - loved the food, especially this....

And Teresa looked GREAT :) I can't believe she's having that baby in about a month or so!

I got to spend much of the shower holding baby Maya while she slept - look at how sweet she is holding on to the front of my shirt!! I miss this part of having a little one...they grow out of it sooo fast...

Nothing too eventful happened for the rest of the evening. I did do my weekly call to mom and dad, but that's hard to get a good picture of...

I had dinner, watched tv (Army Wives and Big Brother), chatted with a friend, and had a treat (breaking the 2-cookie rule!)

I tried to read a little before bed, but fell asleep quickly - parties are exhausting!

And with that, we've come to the end of another Week in the Life. I'll be spending some time this coming week trying to put it together for printing so I can add it to the Week in the Life Album I have. It's fun to be able to look back at previous weeks in the life and see what changes and what stays the same. There is a link on the right side of the blog where you can go see previous weeks in the life too - I'll be adding these links there and hopefully will have pages put together soon to share too.

Week in the Life - Day Six

Just a typical Saturday morning around here...

No idea what that was all about - the goggles OR the sweatshirt as it's warmed up nicely around here :)

Ellie got the coffee going for us all....

...and then Graham and I got to work on the breakfast muffins.

After breakfast there was more dress-up - anyone know of a good construction-themed ballet??!!

And then there was this....

It's near impossible to get them to pose together with halfway decent expressions - this one made me smile big :)

While we were playing outside before lunch, we had visitors...

Grandma Chery is back after being away for 3 whole weeks! I think she's going to teach Ellie all about hair do-bobs and accessorizing :)

Before lunch I managed to get most of the laundry done and get the kids packed for their time away...

They are heading to Wil's house tonight, then to the coast to visit Mum mum and Pop pop from Sunday to Tuesday, then I think they'll have an overnight with Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery before coming back home on Thursday. They are very excited about all of this :)

After Graham and I had a little quiet time, we went out back to play, where we met this guy...

As a side note, I love this picture 'cause it also includes the book I just started reading, The Pioneer Woman - Black Heels to Tractor Wheels - I'm LOVING it, and isn't the cover so pretty?! Anyhow, back to our little friend....

G was super excited and decided he wanted to try and capture him

And then somewhere along the way we lost track of him, and G was worried that he would never see him again!! I thought he might cry he was so upset :(

I spotted him under the trampoline and all was right in the world again - boy and grasshopper are reunited :)

He did manage to capture the grasshopper in a water bottle at one point, and wanted to keep him and then release him at the beach on the coast....but he decided against that plan and played with him some more. He was excited to show Wil when he arrived - they discussed when the grasshopper might like to eat...

I think he was ultimately just left to roam free in the backyard.

Eventually I got everyone packed up and sent on their way, and in what I think is a Week in the Life first, I had a date :)

I looked like this when he arrived...

....and he brought me these....

He took me to Mazzi's for dinner. The food, wine, and company was awesome....it went very well :)

 

Week in the Life - Day Five

It was just me and Ellie this morning since Graham spent the night with Pa-Paw...such a happy girl!

And look....such a smart girl too writing her name....

Ok, well maybe that was me...but I'm sure she'll be doing it herself soon ;)

After hanging out together for a bit I drove Miss E over to daycare - I had every intention of going back to the water aerobics class, but somehow ended up here instead....

I came home and crawled back into bed with my breakfast, some reading material, and an episode of Army Wives....definitely a bit of a slow start!

I did spend some time out in the garage and got a couple more boxes unpacked, but then I just couldn't stand it anymore and I went back to being lazy. My friend Matt has been on vacation for the past couple of weeks and he left me the key to the pool/hot tub area at his apartment....I finally decided to put it to good use!

I packed up my bag...

...and spent the next couple of hours right here

I left the chair a few times to cool off in the pool, but then right back to the serious business of soaking up the sun as evenly as possible :) Horribly unproductive, but ohhhh so relaxing!

Home to clean up and get back into mom gear before getting the kids at daycare...

The kids came home a little bit cranky and tired....but that just means it was a good and busy day I think :) Graham was almost too tired to even ride his bike before dinner!

He also brought me a flower from the yard, as he often does....I find it to be quite sweet :)

Notice Miss E in the background coloring - definitely one of her favorite things to do these days!!

I fixed one of our favorite things for dinner - hotdogs stuffed with cheese and wrapped up in cresent rolls! I also fried up some leftover potatoes to go with it.

 The rest of the night was pretty uneventful and routine - more relaxing, a couple loads of laundry, bedtime routines, etc. It's 11:30 and I think I'm finally ready to put this all away and get some sleep.

Week in the Life - Day Four

The day has to be great when it starts like this, right?!

It's a shot I took on my morning bike ride. The kids were still with Wil this morning, so around 6:30ish I hopped on my bike and went for a ride while the air was still cool.

I came home for a shower, breakfast, and catching up on Big Brother episodes, then got dressed for the day...this is my mommin' gear for the day :)

Wil brought the kids back around 9:30 and they went straight outside to play - here they are entertaining themselves while waiting for me to come push them on the swings...

....and then being pushed :)

Ellie LOVES the sand box and spent some time there while Graham kept swinging...

Graham spent just enough time in the sandbox to make me a chocolate pie....

.....and then he was off chasing butterflies :)

They also played together on the play structure/slide...

.....but I don't think that ended like Ellie hoped it would :)

And of course Graham was doing something I asked him not to (it's not uncommon these days!) and ended up getting in a little bit of a situation...

He asked if I would lift him up into the baby swing and I told him no....'cause the swing is for babies! He managed to get himself up in it anyhow and all buckled in, and then managed to get himself flipped over like this....all "Tom Cruise dropping into a room-like" and couldn't get himself back up! Bless her heart, Ellie tried to help, but I finally had to put the camera down, stop giggling, and help him back up and out of the seat :)

I thought that might be a good time to break for lunch....

Bananas sliced on graham crackers for Ellie, leftover mac & cheese for Grhaam, and leftover pizza for me.

After lunch we did quiet/nap time. After I put Ellie down, Graham and I sat in the chair in the living room and watched Backyardigans together until Pa-Paw came to get him to go swimming at ESTC at 1:30. After he left I did a little bit of looking around online 'cause this came in my email...

The catalog isn't here yet, but you can look at it online....which is what I did. I loooove IKEA! I started to get a little sleepy though, so went to my room to lay down.

The reading didn't last long and I got about an hour of sleep before it was time to get up and going again.

When Ellie woke up she demanded I put something pretty in her hair....this is what has been working best....

We watched some Diego and played outside more before dinnertime. Since Graham was with Pa-Paw I got a little lazy about fixing dinner and we went to Arby's to get some roast beef sandwiches :)

I loved the "good mood food" fries container and when I went to take a picture of it, Ellie decided to pose with her Oreo cookie - she looooves cookies!

After dinner we played pretend (she made me tea and food in the play kitchen) and she did some coloring on the mail...

Right before bedtime Graham and Pa-Paw stopped by to pick up some clothes for tonight and tomorrow. I'm told G had a great time at the pool :) Still planned for the evening was a big bubble bath for G while Pa-Paw gets the house ready for Grandma Chery's return tomorrow! Graham also told me earlier in the day, that this was going to be his last chance to sleep in Pa-Paw's bed because Grandma Chery is coming home ;)

They walked home and Ellie and I did bedtime routine - brush teeth, put pjs on, and read stories. She went to bed easily and I went back out to relax and chat on the phone with a friend for a bit before my favorite summer guilty pleasure came on....

Another day documented....as I look back over the post it seems to be a lot about things we do and love. And I especially love summer because we have more time to do those things :)

Week in the Life - Day Three

So last night around 11pm, Graham came into my room and said, "good morning mommy!" - After convincing him that it wasn't even close to being morning, we decided that he could stay and sleep over in my room :)

First order of business this morning was getting the kids up and ready for daycare and their stay at their dad's house. Then I got myself ready for water aerobics...

Probably one of my favorite moments of the day happened when we were in the car on the way to daycare. The song, "Say Hey" came on the radio and the kids and I did some serious dancing and singing....Ellie likes to mimic whatever I'm doing and it is sooo funny to watch!

Once we got to Sabrina's though, the kids' attention quickly turned to the fact that it was garbage day...

It's always quite an event :) Eventually though we got to the front door!

We have been coming to Sabrina's house since Graham was about 6 months old - she and her family are definitely like extended family for Ellie and Graham. I have no reservations about leaving the kids with her and know that they will be well taken care of. We are so lucky to have found her, and I keep my fingers crossed that she'll stick with us for quite some time yet :)

After dropping the kids off I went straight to River Road for the morning water aerobics class...

Go ahead and imagine me out in the middle of this picture working out with some of these....

I tried the class for the first time last Friday and really enjoyed it. It was a great workout and I just love being in the water, so it doesn't really feel like a lot of work :) There are a lot of new things to learn at first, but the instructor and other people in the class have been helpful. I'm hoping to find a way to continue to make it to classes after I go back to work in the fall....it will be a great way to stay active all winter.

After class I headed  home to shower and make some breakfast...eggs, bacon, and toast...my favorite!

With no kids around I decided to watch an episode of Army Wives while I ate :) But I didn't quite finish the episode before I heard someone at the door....

Wednesday means it's time for Ted to come work in the yard. Ted's another one of those helpers that I am sooo happy we found. Ted first came to me when I was pregnant with Graham and he's been keeping our yard neat and tidy ever since. I don't see Ted very often during the school year because he comes during the day, but when we do get to talking it goes on for quite awhile :) I really enjoy chatting with Ted about his kids, my kids, work, the yard, and life in general! Today I think we probably talked for an hour in total....some about the sprinkler system that's giving us trouble, but also about his belonging to the Hoedads "back in the day" - a worker-owned treeplanting and forestry labor cooperative that was based right here in Eugene. They have a big reunion coming up so I got to hear more about that. I find Ted to be so very kind and incredibly interesting and so helpful and supportive - I'm so grateful to have found him!

I spent some time working in the garage this afternoon while I was waiting for a load of laundry to get through the wash machine. You might remember the before picture of garage from this post, and I've definitely made a lot of progress since then. It's still very much a work in progress though...

I now have plenty of room to park my bike though, and I can easily walk from one end of the garage to the other. I have taken MANY bags and boxes of "stuff" to St. Vinnie's and I'm starting to get stuff arranged and put away. Feels good to keep plugging away at this - it's the last evidence of our move here, just about a year ago now. My goal is to get this all cleaned up before my family arrives mid-August. After working out there today I have some new energy for it and am already trying to figure out when the next chance is I'll have to work on it :)

I have a baby shower to attend this coming weekend, so I had to run out to get a couple things together for that. No pictures of that yet though, 'cause Teresa could be reading ;) More about that on Sunday's Week in the Life post! I can tell you that it involved a stop at Costco and Target.

After I got home I did some work on my One Little Word project for July. Our assignment involved music...

"Do you have a personal soundtrack? Have you been hearing your word whispering (or maybe yelling) to you this year through music? This month we're going to take time to listen and document some of the songs that might be inspiring us as we journey with our word in 2011."

Music has always been an important part of my life, so this assignment really spoke to me. There are definitely songs that have inspired and moved me as I focus on my word for the year, FORWARD. So the assignment was to find 9 songs, and I've been keeping a list as I stumble upon songs that hold meaning to me right now. I knew I had found the 9th one when I was rocking out with the kids in the car this morning :)

You should be able to access the playlist by clicking here - I think it will open up itunes and you can listen to little snippets of my songs. I'll list them here as well in case the link doesn't work right.

(click on the list to be able to read it better)

I did a lot of relaxing for the rest of the evening and didn't really take any pictures at all. A friend came over to watch tv and we ordered a pizza...and after that I just crawled in bed to unload today's pictures with a cup of peppermint tea.

There seem to be themes that jump out at me from day to day....on Monday it was about errands and work, Tuesday was about having the kids here and playing with friends, and today I find myself thinking about the people we have in our village that help me out, like Ted and Sabrina. We are so fortunate to have so many good people in our lives - there's no way I could do this all alone :)

Week in the Life - Day Two

At the end of the day, I'm always surprised to go through the pictures I've taken and realize that I had already forgotten things about the day. It's been nice to along with the pictures be jotting down what's going on throughout the day so I remember more of what I want to record.

Today the kids were here with me in the morning, and that means that Graham usually comes into my room and crawls into bed with me in the morning. This morning it was about 7am....

He's always pretty fun in the morning and we have some of our best conversations here :) We lay around awhile waiting to hear that Eleanor is awake. This morning I needed to get a quick shower in before getting Ellie out of her crib - G helped by keeping on eye on her and entertaining her in her room.

After breakfast, Graham wanted to go out to the backyard and pick some blueberries he saw last night

There weren't very many, but he was awfully excited and proud about the ones he did pick :)

After breakfast we watched a little tv and finished getting dressed and ready to go out.

Ellie and Graham were both excited to get going - not that running to the car is an unusual experience!

Once to the car Graham is usually able to get himself into his booster seat and all buckled in a fairly effecient manner. Ellie is a bit of a different story...

In this picture she's telling me to "go away" - one of her favorite things to say to me right now. After a little bit of wrestling with E and the carseat, we manage to head out on our way....

We were out and about because I had made an appointment for Ellie to have her very first haircut (though it was really just a little trim).

I took Ellie to Angela, the stylist that also cuts Graham's hair. G was shocked to hear that it was going to be the SAME Angela that he knew :) I was worried that Ellie's strong will and dramatic flair would take over, but she sat fairly still and I didn't really hear a peep out of her the entire time she was in the chair.

Angela just trimmed off a little bit around the edges so that Ellie's hair continues to grow out in a healthy way. She also remembered to grab a little curl for me to take with...

We also talked about things to do with Ellie's hair - Angela says I should start combing it over to a side and she recommended barrettes to kind of hold it over to that side....will have to shop for some little barrettes I guess :)

After the haircut we were on our way home when I heard what I thought sounded like sharing coming from the back seat. I just held up the camera and hoped I'd get a glimpse of something....

Ellie had a little snack cup and was sharing her fishies and cheerios when Graham asked for some :) Yay....sharing!!

Once home we had a little more to munch on and then it was time for nap/quiet time. Ellie went down for her nap easily, and Graham asked if I'd sit on the couch with him during quiet time 'cause "I love it when you sit with me on the couch!" Graham watched some shows while I played around on my computer a bit.

After Ellie got up from her nap we went to the store to pick up some fixings for homemade pizza. We took the pizza fixings and some ice cream bars to Kara, Brian, Sam, and Maya's house.

Kara and I have traded off doing pizza night playdates and it's one of my favorite things :) Here are some of my favorite shots of our visit there...

Kara discussing important fire issues with the firemen :)

Both kinds were great, but I preferred the Pale Ale

playing baseball with Miss Kara (she's so much more fun than me!)

Ready for a ride....Ellie enjoyed some fun time with Brian - she's always a little shy with him at first, but by the end of the night they are best buds :)

An exhausted Sam, waiting his turn at bat

The pizza was yummy and the ice cream bars totally hit the spot. We played a little bit more before packing up and heading home to get ready for bed.

Brushing teeth is definitely part of our bedtime routine - they each get to start brushing on their own and then I usually get a turn before we finish up.

Time for me to try and squeeze in one more episode of Army Wives before I fall asleep :)

 

Week in the Life - Day One

Yep - that's when Week in the Life officially started...when I snapped a picture of my clock with my cell shortly after I woke up. I wake up EARLY. I've always been a morning person, but since I was pregnant with Ellie, this has been pretty much the routine wake-up time. The kids usually sleep for a couple more hours after this, so at least I get a little alone time. Today the kids are at Wil's house though, so it's just me this morning.

 

I usually don't get out of bed right away, so I got my computer out and browsed the internet some, did a little playing around with some pictures from the weekend, and chatted with a friend.

By 6:45 I was up, dressed, and ready to hit the bike path....

I have to ride on the road a little bit before I get to the bike path, but I have a nice little path all figured out that ends up being about 10 miles I think...

a bridge near the beginning of my ride

The path takes me on a little loop and the river is right next to me almost the whole time. There is also a nice little stretch that goes by the Delta Ponds, where I stopped and took this picture...

When I got home from my ride I got into the shower and then fixed myself a little breakfast (Kix cereal and toast)

....and then pulled up an episode of Army Wives on Netflix while I ate my breakfast and relaxed a bit before getting dressed and ready for the day. I'm totally addicted to Army Wives right now - there are several seasons of this Lifetime series on Netflix just waiting for me to catch up on!

Today was all about errands and a little work at 4J. The sun was in hiding for most of the day, so it worked out perfectly.

First stop was for gas at Costco, then inside to pick up a perscription and a few other things....baby wipes, a dress for Ellie ('cause she's not a fan of wearing pants these days!), some candy to keep in my desk at work, and Propel

Also stopped at Target for some other goodies...including more Kix! Then I made a quick stop back at home to unload everything before heading into 4J.

I went into work because we were interviewing someone for the school psychologist position we have open. I got there a little early so I could continue working on another project I have going at the moment - reorganizing the closet where we keep all of our supplies. Right now I'm working on labeling all of the shelves...

Gotta love getting to play with a label maker!! Ok - that might just be me :)

After the interview I went with Tamra to Ninkasi to chat and have a little snack....by then the sun was out so it was nice to sit outside and get a little sun while we caught up on stuff :)

And then it was time to pick up the kids from daycare and head home.

A little tv time to wind down a little before dinner - Ellie sat in my lap and Graham sat on the couch to watch. Diego is Ellie's fav right now, but Graham prefers Backyardigans.

As I was fixing dinner the kids opened a card from Grandma Chery...

It was a Hoops and YoYo (one of my favs!!) card about how much she was missing them :) Grandma Chery has been gone for almost three weeks now! I actually have some video of Ellie looking at the card - she thought it was pretty funny. You can view the video by clicking here.

After dinner we went outside to play - the kids both found things to do and I had a very nice and relaxing time watching them :)

Ellie drawing..

...playing with her car...

...and learning how to swing on her belly - she was pretty excited to learn how to do this!

Graham was on "weed patrol" and that kept him busy most of the time we were outside.

After that it was time for baths - they definitely needed a good soak!

I think this is the first time that they have actually played together in the bath instead of both doing their own things. It's also the first time that Ellie wasn't ready to get out after I washed her up. Usually she can't get out fast enough, but she kept saying "no" when I asked if she was done :)

I got Ellie out first and got her ready for bed, read a couple stories, and she went done without a peep! Graham was next and was just as easy....they were tired!

Sometimes I'm able to get dishes done after dinner, but lately I've been playing with the kids and leaving dishes until after they go to bed. So after putting them to bed I had to face this....

But it didn't take too long to get it back to this....

By about 8:05 I was in bed and ready to watch How I Met Your Mother and last night's episode of Big Brother that I ahd missed. I edited photos and video from the day and then started this blog post before falling asleep - lights were out by 11:00pm.

 

 

Picnics

This weekend the kids and I had a little picnic in the backyard - I forgot how easy this is, and how much they love stuff like this....

And really - it was a super easy way to make them feel like it was a special occasion. A couple lunchables and a beach towel....they were thrilled :)

The weekend was very relaxing - the sun was shining and it finally felt like summer!

Another night out with Ellie and a PSA

Graham spent Thursday night at his Pa-Paw's house, so in what is becoming a tradition...Ellie and I went to the mall to do a little shopping, grab dinner, then play a little bit. Girl's night out!

We got some new flip flops for her at Children's Place - she's been wearing her brother's and is doing a decent job of getting around in them, so I thought it was time for her own pair. She's very picky about her shoes....already!

After buying (and immediately demanding to wear) the new flip flops, we wandered over to Arby's for some roast beef - Ellie enjoys them just as much as I do :)

After dinner we spent a little time at the mall park....where Ellie got herself up on top of this:

Sat right up on top of there and was quite proud of herself. No idea how to get back down, but crawled right back up again after I got her down :)

We didn't stay to play long, because Ellie wanted to wear her new flip flops, and there are no shoes in the mall park..so she actually decided we should go. There were also some interesting characters at the mall park, so I was more than ready to go.

And now for the Public Service Announcement....you may or may not have heard that Borders is closing all of their stores...boo :(  I found some Borders gift cards in my stash and figured I better use them before the store disappeared. Most things are just 10% off right now, but greeting cards and magazines are 40% off and some types of books are 20% off. I found a couple of biographies that I've been wanting to read and decided to treat myself (instead of being sensible and buying gifts or something for the kids!) So hopefully before the summer is over I'll make time to read this:

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

and this:

Bossypants

 

Swimming Lessons - how far we've come!

At the very end of June, Ellie and Graham started swimming lessons - Ellie as a "penguin" and Graham as a "tadpole". Tonight was our last swimming lesson for this summer...

(special thanks to Pa-Paw for re-working his plans to step in and help out!)

Ellie has had her ups and downs in the pool, sometimes all within minutes or seconds of each other! I had to laugh when I got her "report card"

I laughed at first because the instructors didn't have to spend much time with Ellie to totally nail her personality....and then I started doing the nervous/hysterical laugh, because I realized this child isn't really even 2 yet! What on earth am I going to be in for this next year?!

Ellie was a little more outgoing on Monday night when I was in the pool with her, and even went off (got dropped off) the diving board! Tonight she willingly went with the instructors (most of the time)...

....and she even did a lot of good swimming/kicking for me!

The whole point of lessons at this age is to just get them in the water and get them more comfortable with it. I definitely saw improvements from day one, so mission accomplished!

Graham's swimming report had far fewer words written on it - Daniel just got right to the point....

I'm so happy with how Graham did this summer - last summer it was a struggle to even get him to get into the pool with the group and/or instructor.

(FYI - that's not Daniel....he was gone the last week of lessons and this is his sub...I forgot her name!)

Definitely not the case this summer....he enjoyed a lot of fun games and activities, and has made great strides in being more comfortable getting his head/face wet. Here he is swimming with his new little friend Oscar....love how they wrap the noodles around them for floaties!

He smiled sooo much when he was in that pool - it's was a lot of fun to watch him.

Being in the pool with Ellie made me wish I could spend a little more time there myself, so I'm looking at starting some deep water exercise. A new session starts on Monday so I think I'm going to give it a try...no pictures though...I promise ;)