Hunt Family Connection

A few more shots of our weekend....

You might have already seen these pictures that I posted Saturday morning....

Since we've shortened Ellie's nap time to about an hour during the day, she's been sleeping a little later into the morning. She's usually up and going at 7am, which is MUCH better than the previous 5am wake-up call I was getting. Makes for a much happier mommy :)

For some reason, Ellie decided she absolutely needed to wear her swimsuit top and dragged me into the bathroom where we keep it. Add a red, white, and blue tutu, a pair of pink princess shoes, and you have the perfect outfit for a Saturday morning!

She cracks me up - seriously....she makes me laugh A LOT every day :)

We decided to have a little picnic for lunch and Graham had the brilliant idea to have it at the little table in his room so we wouldn't be disturbed by the dogs. He even got his room all ready, pulling in the stool from the living room so that Ellie would have a place to sit too.

During quiet/nap time, Graham decided he wanted to do "homework" and so I got out all of the workbooks we've been collecting for awhile now (he's shown very little interest in doing school work outside of the school setting) and he sat for quite awhile working on dot-to-dot pages!

He also did some pages where he circled the pictures that were bigger, taller, smaller, longer, etc. He's a smartie, just doesn't always like to sit and show what he knows.

In other big Graham news for the weekend....he's been feeding the dogs every night, so I decided this would be a good thing to give him an allowance for. He's been asking how he can earn money, and I'm reluctant to give him an allowance for things that are normal expectations of living in this house. But feeding the dogs feels like more of an above and beyond kind of task. For now, 5 cents per day that he feeds the dogs - he was pretty excited to get his 25 cents this weekend and put it right into his bank.

Later Saturday afternoon Pa-Paw came over to get Graham for a boys night - dinner, movie, and an overnight with Pa-Paw since Grandma Chery is out of town. Ellie and I decided to head to the mall for some dinner, shopping, and playing.

Ellie ate all of her dinner, letting me know that she really liked the roast beef sandwich :) We did a little shopping and found something for each of the kids that was on sale as they insist on getting bigger and bigger, growing out of the clothes they already have!

Ellie was pretty excited to spend some time at the mall park and then we brought a little snack to bring home to munch on before bedtime.

Sunday was pretty uneventful, but we did have a yummy lasagna dinner with Faith and Kenny. The kids LOVE having Faith around to play with.

No big plans for this past weekend, but we still had a nice one just sticking close to home and hanging out. Down-time is good :)

Pizza Night at Miss Kara's!

We were long overdue for a pizza night with Miss Kara, Sam, and Maya - we were all very excited to fix that this past Friday night. Brian was out of town so it seemed like a great time - Miss Kara invited Melissa and the kids too since Josh was also out of town. So if you're keeping count, that's three adults and six kids. We vaguely remember when we had NO kids and hung out together, but all of a sudden there are SIX! Wow....

I didn't get a picture with all of them, but I came close and captured 5 of the 6 before we sat down to eat :)

There was a LOT going on....

the "big boys" playing in Sammy's bedroom

Maya eating Os.....

Ellie playing with trains....

and Graham chatting with Maya (she loved watching all of the kids!)

I loved having a chance to hold Melissa's new, handsome little man, Jacob while she got to eat her dinner with both hands :) I had fun feeding Maya some of her dinner and watching her devour her Os. It's nice to have the opportunity to cuddle and play with "babies" again :)

It was also fun catching up with my friends - looking at the six kids between us, it was very clear why we don't have the chance to get together as often as we'd like! I feel so lucky to have so many friends with kids that we can visit and play with....so very grateful for the support system and "family" that we have here.

The pizza was YUMMY - thanks Miss Kara!! We had ice cream "sammies" for dessert and then a little more play time before heading home. I'm guessing everyone was nice and worn out by the time they got to bed...mommys included!

Playing

The kids have been playing more lately it seems - both by themselves and together. Either way is pretty funny sometimes. Notice Ellie's "scared" look as Graham shows off his light saber....

Ellie usually tries to find a large stick to fight back....might be time to get her her own light saber!

Then there was this little scene on the floor the other night.....

We have bunches of Little People stuff....a train, a barn, a house, and a plane. Graham never really got into it, but now and again I will find Eleanor off in a corner setting them up to eat together. Now that I think about it....eating seems to be a real trend with this girl! She LOVES doing it herself, but I'm realizing at just this moment that a lot of her play revolves around eating. She fixes us meals in her little kitchen, she plays with a picnic basket she got for Christmas, she feeds her babies.....hmmmmm.

Graham is also very interested in video games right now, but I'm trying to keep that to a minimum and limit it to educational games. I love his Leap Pad and I found some educational websites that he enjoys visiting. If you're looking for some good stuff for your own online toddler (amazing what kids are doing now!) these are a couple of our favorites:

Starfall - you can access some free content, but there is also a subscription to get more
Nick Jr. - lots of great stuff there

Sam's FOUR!

Big birthday party today for our friend Sam :)

A bunch of kids (many of them also 4-year-olds) + lots 'o sports equipment/toys = FUN!

Another parent started the trend, and the other kids caught on quick and were begging their parents to do the same. Kid sits on the rolling cart....parent pulls and swings them around by holding the hula hoop. Graham couldn't get enough of it!

Hockey was pretty fun too :)

Sam got the candles blown out, and the kids all stopped to have cake. Graham turned to me while we were eating and said, "This cake is so good!" - I told him to be sure to tell Miss Kara since she made it from scratch....and he got right up and went to tell her :) YUMMY cake Miss Kara!

Sam started to quietly open one of his presents, and within seconds the scene was like this....

During clean-up I found Kara checking out some of Sam's gifts.....

She's much like a super hero for pulling off another great birthday party!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!!!

Pa-Paw's Birthday Dinner

The other big event this week was Pa-Paw's birthday! We invited him over for dinner and he requested my spaghetti bolognese. Since we think Pa-Paw is quite special, I was more than happy to put this together for him. On Tuesday night when Wil had the kids I did the grocery shopping, and on Wednesday night while I was fixing dinner and getting the kids baths and ready for bed, I cooked the bolognese (it's a bit of a process, but totally worth it!) and baked some cupcakes....

Last night when we got home Graham helped me frost and decorate the cupckes....

I warmed up the sauce, heated up the garlic bread, put out salad fixings, and boiled the noodles - super easy! Everyone LOVED dinner - not even any complaints from the kids. In fact, I was reminded how much Eleanor is my daughter as I watched her shovel spoon after spoon of pasta in her mouth :)

Of course everyone was excited about dessert too...

We sang Happy Birthday, Pa-Paw and G blew out the candles, and we made a good dent in that plate of cupcakes! I can't even tell you how crazy Ellie looked when she finished.....I had to take right from the table to the bathtub! Kenny helped clean up dishes while I put away food and got the kids packed up for a weekend at their dad's house. Pa-Paw stayed to play and hang out too....

Pa-Paw stayed to read bedtime stories and tuck the kids into bed. We feel very lucky to have such a great Pa-Paw and I'm glad we had a chance to celebrate him during his birthday week :)

 

Feeling the love....

We started celebrating Valentine's Day over the past weekend with some special breakfast muffins and plates...

The muffin papers had hearts on them too - Graham is always asking me to make muffins, so I thought I'd fancy them up a bit with Valentine's Day coming :)

We opened up cards from Grandmas and Grandpas and played with stickers...good times!

For Valentine's Day I made little baskets for the kids - they are at a great age for little dollar store finds!

Of course Ellie was up first (loooong before Grhaam) so she got into hers, and after awhile wanted to take Graham his and wake him up. He was so excited for his Valentine's Day party at school that he didn't mind waking up at all. He was also very appreciative of his goodie basket, thanking me for it and telling me how nice it was of me to do it....awwww!

It's a horrible picture, but Ellie cracked me up when she walked back into G's room with her happy-face balloon in one hand and her paddle ball toy in the other. She is also sporting her fancy princess skirts - those she had put on before coming into my room this morning...when she came in with them on she announced, "TA DA!" and twirled a bit...LOL

When I got G to school all of their decorated Valentine's Day bags were on the tables, so I stayed to help him pass out the Valentine's he made for his classmates. I returned a little while later to attend their Valentine's Day party, which included cookie frosting/eating...oh, and I wanted to include this picture of him with his fruit kabob too - what an awesome idea that was!

Once he was done with his snack, Graham made his way to the BINGO table and never looked back!

The spots are little shapes with words, and the markers are heart candies to eat when you're finished playing! But Graham wanted to stay and play for the rest of the party :)

When I took G back to daycare I sat with him for a few minutes to look at the valentines he got from his classmates. His favorite one included a tattoo from Angry Birds, which Sabrina helped him put on right away....

My favorite was the one I got from Graham....

The poem that was on the front went like this:
We may at times be sticky, we may at times be clean. But cuter, little, friendlier hands - you have never seen!
He also signed his name and drew a picture (of what I can only assume is himself) on the front :)

The kids spent the night with Wil so they got to spread the love around. I had a busy afternoon of work and did some grocery shopping before heading home. I got a treat from my grown-up Valentine too....

Yum! It was a pretty quiet night, but just what I needed. I've been a bit tired and just feeling "blah" these past couple of days. We have another big event coming up this week so I'll doing more prep for that tonight....more details about that another day :)

We definitely felt the love here, and hope that you did too! Happy Valentine's Day!!

A day in the Life....

Ali threw down the challenge, and I have a hard time resisting opportunity to document a day in our lives. It seemed an especially good idea as I have been noticing a couple of things lately that make me want to step back and see all of the good and wonderful things happening right now.

So the day started quite early....

Yep - that's in the AM people! Graham "couldn't sleep" so he crawled in bed with me about this time. Of course I spent the next couple hours on the tiniest slice on the edge of my king size bed because that's just how it goes when a child crawls into your bed!

A bit before 6AM Ellie started yelling for me, saying that she was done sleeping. For some reason I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning. I'm usually a pretty good morning person! Could have been the rain...sometime during the night it started raining and it was still pouring down when we got up. So back to Ellie....she's up early every morning, and it's pretty much the same routine....

Some time on the couch petting, talking to, and watching a little tv with Sammie...

And then off to the kitchen to tell me how hungry she is and that she wants a CUTIE :)

There is always a lot of drama involved with this one - we're working on using a quiet voice and nice words....she can be a bit demanding :)

Graham is not really a morning person and he often sleeps for another hour or more after Ellie gets up. I try to let him wake up on his own, 'cause he's a little crabbier when I have to wake him up.

He's working on being a little more independent getting ready in the morning. He's quite capable of getting himself dressed and ready to go, but he much prefers to have help. Sometimes he eats at home and sometimes he waits until he gets to Sabrina's....just kind of depends on when he wakes up and how cranky he is. Can't wait until we have to up and ready for school early every day :) (please note the sarcasm there!)

On this particular morning everything went pretty well. It's always a bit of a circus getting everyone into coats and boots and then out the door and into the car. This morning Ellie was having fun splashing in the puddles while I put some valentines in the mailbox....

I usually try to get us out of the house no later than 8, but my goal is usually to have the kids at Sabrina's house by 8. Luckily everyone is quite flexible and goes with the flow. So here we are all buckled in and ready to head to daycare and work....

Drop off is easy 'cause the kids love going to daycare! I get hugs and kisses, but hardly ever tears or whining - very happy about that :) On school days for G (this was not one of them) Sabrina usually takes him to school, and then I pick him up and take him back to daycare over my lunch. I love that I'm able to be at his school pretty much every day that he goes there.

I worked at the district office this morning - most of my days are spent catching up on piles of files that accummulate on my desk or working with kids in the schools. I'm at the middle school on Mondays and Friday afternoon, I'm at the elementary school on some Tuesday afternoons and all day on Thrusdays, and then I'm downtown or running here or there for meetings on the other days.

This afternoon's meeting was at the elementary school, but before heading there I had to make a special stop for my wonderful friend Leila....it was her birthday and she really needed and deserved a special lunch treat :)

Subway sandwiches and dessert from Sweet Life...but the best part was getting to have lunch with Leila. I feel very lucky to have so many good friends in my life and even luckier that I get to see them for lunch once in awhile to catch up on our crazy, busy lives.

So after my afternoon meeting, I did a little more work (scheduling more meetings!) and then headed over to Sabrina's. Graham was still at tennis (he has tennis lessons at ESTC thanks to Pa-Paw every Monday and Wednesday). Pa-Paw, Grandma Chery, and Wil were all there watching Graham's lesson. Once in a blue moon I get to pop in on a lesson, but they are from 3:00 - 4:00 so I'm usually in meetings at that time.

Wil brought G back to Sabrina's and I got everyone packed up in the car to head home for dinner.

The kids usually want to play with their Leap games or watch a show right away when we get home...unless it's nice enough to be outside. But it was still raining tonight, so G played with his Leap Pad and Ellie ran around the house doing a bunch of different things. She sometimes wants a snack while she's waiting for me to get dinner on the table...that girl loves to eat :)

Tonight she had some crackers and cheese while I got fish sticks and Shells and Cheese ready to eat....

There always seems to be some sort of crazy at the table. Graham doesn't like to sit still or on his bottom at the table, Ellie wants to be fed or is pushing her plate around...tonight they were just realllly slow in getting their dinner eaten. But there's no dessert until you've eaten what I think is "enough". They sat there for quite awhile, but they got a little dessert when it was all over....

Kenny is a HUGE help with getting dinner on the table and cleaning up after. Even Graham notices that I get help with this. Yesterday on the way home from daycare he asked why Kenny helps with dinner. I explained that it's important that we all help each other to get things like that done and I kid you not, he said, "before, you used to have to do all of that stuff by yourself". I love that he notices that Kenny is helping....here's hoping that he's learning that he can (and should!) be helping too :)

After dinner the dogs take their place next to Ellie's chair where food falls from the sky when I get her out of her booster seat....

I was trying to do laundry tonight, but my washer died before the rinse and spin cycle :( I called my favorite appliance repairman and set up a time for him to come check it out tomorrow....guess laundry will be a weekend project (pray for a quick and cheap fix!) The kids played some more but no more screen time after dinner since we had plenty before. Graham chose to read a book and then work on this superhero puzzle...with a little help (he told me I was a great helper!) he was able to get it all put together...he was soooo proud!

Graham wanted to watch an episode of "How it's Made" so he did that while I got Ellie ready for bed and read stories...these were her choices....

Once I got her tucked in (with her sippy cup of Propel) I watched the end of How It's Made with G and then got him ready for bed and read stories. These were his choices....

Both kids are pretty easy to get to bed these days and they fell asleep quickly. I stayed up to watch Whitney and Are You There Chelsey, and then I remember starting to watch Modern Family, but I have no idea how it ended and woke up on the couch a bit later.

My "day in the life" project ended with one last shot of the clock before closing my eyes :)

Life is good - documenting a day in our lives is a great way to remember that!

 

Nehalem Bay State Park - Yurt Camping!

I saw that the weather was going to be beautiful last weekend, so I went online to see if I could find an available yurt for Saturday night. I settled on this one at Nehalem Bay State Park (northern Oregon coast)....

It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive - we went up on I-5 and then cut over at Tillmook. Not long after we arrived, we headed out to see the beach. The park is located right in between the ocean and Nehalem Bay, so it was a short walk to this....

We walked quite awhile along the beach and searched for "treasures" - we found a few shells that were completely intact to bring home to show the kids...even a whole sand dollar! By the time we were getting ready to head back to our yurt, the sun was setting...

Once we were back at camp we got things out of the car and Kenny got a good fire going so we could fix our dinner, roasted hot dogs :)

I won't lie, it was a bit chilly overnight! There is heat in the yurt, but it just didn't seem to be keeping up. We watched a movie on my computer (Cedar Rapids - so funny!) and then I fell asleep shortly after laying down. I could hear the wind outside, but I could also hear the ocean....so nice.

In the morning we went for a walk around the campground - there was a group there that had been celebrating quietly the night before, and they all had camping vans. It was fun looking at all of the variations. There was this one that is actually two different vans put together....LOVE the zipper!

There were a few sites that had hula hoops around too - Kenny says he saw some that light up :)

We decided to keep walking along the 2 mile bike trail through the campground that loops around the air strip. The letters across the middle are the loops at the campground (we were in loop A) and that strip near the top is where the air strip is.

It was really pretty walking next to the Bay....

And just to the left of that picture above is this....

a few planes took off and landed while we were walking, including THIS ONE that took off right over our heads!

We decided to head home down Hwy 101 so we stopped a couple times to check out a beach or the Tillmook cheese factory (for samples that were not nearly as good as the samples at the Eau Galle Cheese factory!) We had lunch at a 60s themed diner in Lincoln City and made it home in time to see the end of the Super Bowl.

It was a great weekend, but we were wishing for one more day on the coast...I'm still lobbying for 3-day weekends every weekend - I think I'd enjoy a 4-day work week much more :)

A good reason to have kids.....at least for Graham!

Graham and I just had a really interesting (and entertaining) chat about the future on the way back to daycare from preschool. He has finally realized that when he grows up, Ellie cannot be the mom to his kids (lol) So of course his next hope was that I could be the mom ('cause I'm such a great one I'm sure!).  Aren't kids awesome when they're trying to figure out how the world works?! I let him know that if he had kids, I would be the Grandma or Nana. He wanted to make sure that I would still be his mom though....of course! Just like Nana and Papa are still my mom and dad, even though they are his Nana and Papa.

So then he said that everyone who has kids ends up being a Grandma/Nana/etc. or a Papa/Pa-Paw/etc...Well, not necessarily. If you decide not to have kids, then I might not end up being a grandma. And this is where it gets good....Graham told that he was FOR SURE having kids, 'cause then he can go to Chuck E. Cheese with them (only if they are good of course - "that's going to be the rule" he said!) Makes sense :)

When we started wandering into questions about what a wife is, and who would be the mom, I quickly steered the conversation back to Chuck E. Cheese....where he now wants his birthday party to be ;)

Keeping up with the mind of a 4-year-old is hard work y'all!

What went on last week...

It never seems like there are enough hours in the day to get everything done...but here are a few things that went on last week :)

Tuesday was PJ day at Graham's school...he was beyond excited about it...

We got some new Lego Star Wars pjs to wear (I thought that would be better than his favorite old footie pjs!) It was a big preschool week because Friday was Graham's sharing day. This time he wanted to bring his Batman books. We got some little phonics Batman books through the book order form and he absolutely LOVES them. Graham has memorized a couple of the stories so now he likes to "read" them to me. I watched through the window on Friday as he was sharing and saw that he "read" one to the class too - it's so exciting to see him get pumped (and making progress!) about reading.

Speaking of learning to read, this past week was school choice week in 4J. Graham starts Kindergarten in the fall, so we are trying to find the best place for Graham to be. One of the schools we visited was the Japanese immersion school....

It's nice to have so many different options...I'm not sure this is the right one for us, but it was fun to tour. We also toured the elementary school where I work....it's close to daycare and Graham really wants to go there because many of his daycare friends do. We'll be turning in school choice paperwork before spring break and then we'll wait to see if G gets in. Big, exciting times :)

I caught the kids being good to each other this week (it happens more often than you'd think!)...

They were watching Team UmiZoomi together - so, so cute!

I had a dentist appointment, Graham had tennis, and Ellie got some new pjs (Dora) even though she didn't have PJ day at school. Good times :) It was another busy week, but a good one.