Hunt Family Connection

Scissors and other fun stuff

Graham tried using a scissors awhile ago and ended up cutting a hole right in the middle of his t-shirt when I looked away for a moment. The scissors has been away for a long time since then. I got some fun stuff in the dollar section at Target the other day, including these dry erase writing strips and crayons....

Graham has been asking about writing his name, so I thought this might be a good way to practice, along with some letter-tracing worksheets that I have.

He enjoyed tracing the letter G, but then wanted to cut it out. I decided it would be ok to try using the scissors again. I did some pre-teaching about what is and isn't ok to cut (ok = paper, not ok = clothing, hair, etc.) On this particular day he did great with the scissors! Only cut paper and had a blast doing it. But this past weekend when we got the scissors out again the temptation was just too much, and when I glanced over to see what he was doing, I noticed there was a tiny hole cut into his jeans :( So still working on that I guess....what is this obsession with cutting into his clothes?!?! And really...should a child's scissors be able to cut through blue jeans?? Yikes!

Visiting Portland

This weekend I got to go to Portland with Tamra to do some apartment hunting (for her....not me!)

She had an appointment to see one place on Friday afternoon, so we made it for that and then met up with our friend Megan (another 4J friend that left for Portland about 2 years ago) for drinks and dinner.

We had a nice time checking out her place and visiting for a bit, then we moved on to East Burn for dinner (yummy burger and fries and they had swings for seats at some tables!). From there we went to Doug Fir Lounge for more drinks and chatting (found a great place to sit by the fireplace and they have the coolest glass moosehead mounted on the wall!), then Tamra and I got a room at the hotel right there at Doug Fir called Jupiter Hotel (very unique place - the doors are painted in blackboard paint so you can write your own message for everyone walking by!)

The next morning we got up and on the recommendation of the front desk guy at the hotel, we had a pretty fantastic breakfast at the Tin Shed Garden Cafe. Bacon gravy with biscuits?? Yes please!

We went to an open house at the apartment that Tamra is most interested in - we have fingers, toes, and everything else crossed that she gets it!

We looked at several more places, then started back to Eugene. We stopped at the Woodburn Outlets on our way back for a quick stop at the Gap and Banana Republic (and a snack!) and then finally made it back home around dinner time.

I had a great time and am glad Tamra let me tag along :) There was some discussion about making a trip to visit my Portland friends a more regular event...I'm thinking that might be a good idea!

Catching Up....

Wow - it's either been a busy week or I got lazy about updating! I figured I better get some stories up about last weekend before too many other things happen :)

Graham had spent last Saturday night with Pa-Paw, so we all met up on Saturday morning to do some biking together. We put my bike on Pa-Paw's bike rack and took Grhaam's bike and the bike cart down to the bike path by the mall. It was a little bit busier than I had planned because of all the people taking shuttles out to the Country Fair, but we managed to have a nice little ride together. Graham got tired out (it's a lot of pedaling for his little legs!) so we put his bike back in my truck and I had both kids in the bike trailer for a short ride. Pulling Ellie was pretty easy, but the both of them in there together took a little more work!

Saturday night I went to a party at Kara and Brian's house to celebrate Brian's birthday. It was such a great time and there were so many people there that I hadn't seen in awhile - it was fun catching up....

I had my camera, but didn't take many pictures...I did get a picture of our exciting game of "corn hole"

Scott (on the left) and I took on Brian (on the right) and Kim. Scott and I lost the first game and almost won the second game, but couldn't hold on to our lead. Because it was Brian's birthday and he had the home field (hole?!) advantage, I think he and Kim were destined to win :)

On Sunday I took care of some things around here during the day and managed to get out for a nice bike ride. For dinner I met Wil and the kids out at Emerald Park to listen to Satin Love Orchestra and have a little picnic.

I love Satin Love Orchestra and am excited that they will also be at the Eugene Celebration this fall - yay! The kids danced with me a little bit, we ate our picnic dinner, they played at the park (thanks for helping out with that Pa-Paw!), and then things got a little crazy and it was time to go home. Wil did manage to get a shot of the three of us with my cell phone...

Not the best shot ever, but it's us....and I don't have a lot of pictures of the three of us!

The rest of this week has been a bit of a blur....swimming lessons, some work, some daycare, more bike riding, and rain.

Graham and I did have a movie night/sleepover on Wednesday night - he's been asking for one for some time. We had some Pirate Booty and watched Gnomeo and Juliet - what a cute movie with great music! I also had my own movie night last night and went to Bad Teacher after watching the kids at swimming lessons - I found it funny, but the couple that looked to be in their 60s sitting just down the row from us were less than impressed....which kind of made it even funnier :)

The sun is back out this morning - yay! So since I'm here alone, I might wander out on my bike this morning while it's still a little cooler out. Feels good to start the day with a ride along the river.

I will leave you with a quote from Graham....he told me before bed on our sleepover night.... "Mom, when I grow up...I want to be a dad." He's been asking a lot of great questions lately - so curious about the world around him and how he fits into it....I didn't realize I'd be struggling for answers so early in the game!

Girl's Night Out

Graham went out to dinner with Wil and Pa-Paw, and is spending the night with Pa-Paw...so it seemed it would be a good night for a girl's night out with Miss Eleanor. She was super excited by my suggestion to hit the mall, so off we went!

She cracks me up! Went running for her shoes and sunglasses and couldn't get out of the house fast enough.

When we got to the mall we did a little shopping. Ellie watched TV and munched on Cheerios and raisins while I shopped the super deals at Gymboree (20% already clearanced stuff!) They had a lot of winter stuff out for soooo cheap - got a few things for Ellie's winter wardrobe and a pair of pants for G. We walked around the mall some after that and browsed in a few more stores before stopping at Arby's for some dinner. And because Ellie was such a good shopper we made a stop at the mall park before leaving - she had a blast! Ummmm....we have a climbing problem though.  I can't believe how much of that stuff she was able to scale and get to the top of! She's quite determined to get where she wants to go...

I got her to be ok with leaving by promising an episode of Diego when we got home, and by the time that was over it was time for bed (for me too - I was falling asleep during the Diego episode!!)

It was nice to have some 1:1 time with Eleanor and I hope to do the same with Graham too sometime in the near future.

Plan for the Day...

I started the morning with no plan, but I can't seem to stop myself from making them. So with the kids away for the day and evening, I have a few things that are on my list of things to do....let's see how I do :)

empty and reload dishwasher
load of laundry (or two!) - one done, maybe more later
folding and putting away laundry
posted ads for a couple of things on craigslist
pay bills and send check for beach house rental
more work in the garage  made a path between the garage door and door to the house again - yay!
much needed shower after working in the garage for and hour or so
tuna salad lunch while watching episode of The Daily Show
get a load of stuff to take to Goodwill from the garage
drop stuff off at Goodwill
get swim diaper for Eleanor (and while I'm Fletcher's, stop to browse a little at Cost Plus World Market!)
get refill for diaper genie
spend a little time at work - fill out extended contract form and do some cleaning
walk with a friend - soak up a little sunshine!
appointment with Mandy
sit and read - more sunshine!
bike ride
watch the kids at swimming lessons

All right - no more time to waste....let's get to it!

8:00pm - Not bad! I added a few things to the list throughout the day and I got most of it done. I don't think I would have gotten quite as much accomplished if I didn't make myself report back here :) When I got home from watching the kids swim it was pretty warm in the house, so I finally broke down and turned on the air conditioning. I fixed some dinner and decided the rest of the stuff on the list can wait until the morning. I'll get out nice and early for the bike ride while it's still a little cooler out, and then I'll finish up the laundry and any other little household chores. For now I'll kick back and enjoy the cool air...night night all!

Holiday Weekend

Many thanks to Sabrina and Krissy at daycare for the fun 4th of July crafts. Graham was more than happy to model his flag hat....Ellie, a bit less so to be photographed in her tutu (or at all....the girl puts up a bit of a fuss when the camera is pointed at her)

The big story of the weekend was Art and the Vineyard - one of my favorite things about summer in Eugene. I managed to get out there for at least a little bit all three days. On Saturday night I rode my bike out and enjoyed a glass of wine and some pizza with Chery and some friends that came and went from the table. I also looked around at the garden art...

On Sunday after nap time I took the kids out and met Jim and Chery there (thank goodness they were there to help with the kids - it would have been quite an adventure otherwise!)

When we first arrived we had to check out the Zany Zoo pet exhibit - they had LOTS of snakes...

But my favorite was the turtles....

Ellie enjoyed walking around the grounds with me - she got soooo excited when she saw this bench and proclaimed quite loudly, "HORSIES!!!"

Graham and Pa-Paw did a lot of wandering around too, and especially enjoyed the balloon guy. Graham started with this black balloon sword...

But somehow he played around with it so much that it lost all of its air. By the end of the evening he got a green replacement sword, and Grandma Chery got a red one so they could have a duel :)

On Monday I made one more trip out to Art and the Vineyard on my bike, with the goal of having a funnel cake....

misson accomplished!

I enjoyed my funnel cake, a little more wine, and some great conversation with people that came and went from the table.

Other things that went on here this weekend include:

Playing outside with Pa-Paw and Grandma Chery on Sunday while I fixed hot dogs and cheddar brats on the grill for us all....

Sword fights...

And lots of coloring for Ellie...she LOVES it!

The kids were with Wil most of the day yesterday, so I don't know what their day was like yet, but when I came home from Art and the Vineyard I had a yummy steak dinner, enjoyed a fire in my new fire pit, and watched a great fireworks show right here in the backyard.

 

My bike

I loooove my bike....

I got this shot with my cell phone on the way home from Art and the Vineyard last night. They have a free valet bike parking service there, so I thought I'd hop on and see if I could make it...I did! Google maps says it's 5-6 miles from my house to the park - it was a little warm on the way there, but by the time I headed home it had cooled off a bit. The bike path is just to the right, behind the bench - it's so nice to ride alongside the river. This past week when I didn't have the kids one morning, I got up really early and just took off on the bike. The bike path isn't too far from my house and I found a nice little route/loop to make along the river....took about an hour in all so I'm think it was probably 5-6 miles total.

I'm a little bit sore this morning, but not bad at all. I'm so excited to have finally found a way to exercise that I not only can withstand, but that I look forward to doing!

 

Swimming Lessons

Ellie and Graham are both taking swimming lessons this summer - I managed to find lessons for them at the same time so we can all be in the pool together....we go on Monday and Wednesday nights from 6 -6:30....I've been getting lots of help from Wil and Jim to make this a little more manageable. Graham goes in the water on his own with his group, but Ellie still needs a parent in the pool with her, so Wil and I have been taking turns swimming with her.

 

It was Wil's turn on Wednesday so I was able to grab a few pictures. This is Ellie's first experience in the pool, and she's been giving it mixed reviews. She very much would prefer to do her own thing and gets a little loud about it. Other times she goes with the flow and even does a little kicking or puts her face in the water. She's just not sure of it all yet....

Graham's lessons are right next to Ellie's group in the pool, and the other night G even had the instructor (Daniel) all to himself. At the most I've seen 3 kids in his group, but G was the only one that showed up on Wednesday.

Daniel seems pretty awesome and Graham has been doing all kinds of fun stuff with him. Graham told me he already knew how to swim (with his floaties) so he didn't need lessons...hopefully he's learning a few things anyhow ;)