Hunt Family Connection

Lunch Date

We were off from work last Thursday for Veteren's Day, and on Friday too for a furlough day (furlough day = days we are forced to be off because of budget cuts). On Thursday Wil and I did some work on the old house (for those that are keeping track, it's still not sold - we are lowering the price again and hosting an open house this weekend). On Friday though, I made a lunch date with my son :) It is rare that I get to spend time with Graham alone, so I wanted to make a point of setting up an activity just for us. 

I picked him up for lunch - he picked Red Robin. I brought a toy catalog for him to look through while we waited for our food and he was more than happy to point out all of the things he needed. I also encouraged him to look for some things that Eleanor would like too.

We had a nice lunch together, though he was a little bit distracted by a HUGE table of high school aged girls sitting right next to us....

Of course after lunch we had to go check out the video game - it's a car one so he just likes to sit there and pretend to play. He also got a treat from one of those coin machine thingys...a tiny little LED flashlight that he was pretty excited about. It was nice to spend some alone time with him and I'll definitely be trying to do it more often :)

Summer Project

I've been working on an album all summer....one to help focus on all of the wonderful things that happened. I had a coupon to get a free book printed from Shutterfly, so I was working like mad these past couple of nights to get it done in time to use the coupon. This has held me up a little in posting pictures and stories from Eleanor's birthday...but that's definitely next on my list. In the meantime, I can give you a peek into my album....it's been a pretty great summer :)

Click here to view this photo book.

Lane County Fair 2010

Grandma Chery wanted to go to the fair and so did we...so we joined forces on Saturday to check it all out.

This is what we saw when we arrived at the fair - Graham was sooo excited and wanted to ride it. Unfortunately, he's a bit short yet...maybe next summer :)

Enjoying our fair food - Chery and Graham had corn dogs and I had a funnel cake....YUM! 

We at our fair food while we waited for the pig races....that's right, PIG RACES! I've never seen it, but I have to say it was rather entertaining - look at 'em go! 

And you know that saying about pigs flying??

After the pig races we wandered off to find the rides Graham was tall enough for.

He was pretty excited to ride the airplane....

...he had fun floating in the boat....

....but his favorite was driving the car.

He loved it so much that he wanted to go again.

He actually loved all of the rides and would have been quite happy to stay there all afternoon, but we moved on to the animal barns.

We saw a LOT of sheep, chickens, rabbits, and this giant pig and her babies...it kind of looked like she was smiling :)

We stopped to play here before leaving the barn - finally something that was just perfect for Ellie. The girl LOVES taking things in and out of buckets. She carried these vegetables around putting them into and taking them out of the baskets. I had to laugh because another child came in at one point (a boy probably closer to Graham's age) and he started gathering up all of the vegetables and tried to take the ones Ellie was hanging on to.  He got one out of one of her hands, but when he tried to grab the other she just looked at him and held on TIGHT.  He gave up and she walked away with her ear of corn - she's going to be a tough one...I'm afraid her brother is raising her that way :)

After this everyone was getting a bit tired so it was the perfect time to head back home for naps. It was a very nice day to be at the fair - thanks Grandma Chery for coming along and treating us to a whole bunch o' fun!

Friends

Kara, Brian, and Sammy came by last night to visit our new place. The boys had a blast out in the backyard...

....playing in the sandbox....

...and this fun game they made up on the slide. One of the boys would climb up the slide and the other would throw him a rope (that is attached to the rock wall on the other side) to help "save" him :)  They were quite happy to play this game for a LONG time.....we were quite happy to sit on the patio with our drinks chatting.  Ellie was also rather entertained by just sitting/walking in her wheeled chair, watching all of the action (and flirting a bit with Brian!)  It was a very nice way to spend the evening - we hope they visit often.

Graham Goes Swimming

(Guest writer: Daddy)

"I can't wait to go swimming, Daddy!"

"I'm so excited to go swimming!"

I arrived at Sabrina's house this morning to pick up Graham for his swimming lessons, and that's pretty much what I heard for the next half hour or so before the swim lessons started.  (Well, there was one, "Daddy!  I missed you!" when I first arrived.  That was a great emotional lift in these stressful days.)  But Graham was *so* excited about swimming lessons.  It was incredibly fun to talk to him about it on the way to the Sheldon Pool.

Daddy was surprised when we got there, though.  Apparently parents don't get to participate.  In fact, we're not really even supposed to be in the pool area at all.  The pamphlet they gave out said they wanted the kids to participate without the distraction of their parents... which makes sense.  I can totally see the mental image of 15 over-protective parents squealing at the side of the pool.  They do allow us to be there (down by the pool) for the first and last lessons, though; but when I asked Graham if he wanted me to stay down there with him he said, "No, Daddy.  I'm Ok alone."  He's trying so hard to be a big boy.

There are only three kids in his lesson group.  (In fact, he was the only kid in his original time slot, so they moved into this one... what a huge group, right?!)  I'm pretty sure he is the youngest of the three.  From my vantage up top it looked as though he was sometimes having trouble following directions, but he was definitely just as brave as the two girls.  And he didn't break down crying like one girl did.  I felt  bad for both the crying girl and the instructor.  I'm sure they're trained what to do with that situation, but I know I'd be at a total loss.  Graham did bite his lip toward the end, so they had to take him out of the pool a minute before the lesson was supposed to end, but he was really good about it.

As a slightly amusing note... the instructor, a girl named Chelsea, seemed to be pretty good with the kids, but apparently reading names isn't her strong point.  When it was time to collect the kids she came over and asked, "Are you 'Gray-hamm?' "  Graham didn't even realize she was talking to him.  I tried to tactfully use his name (correctly pronounced!) in front of her a few times, but she wasn't taking the hint, so I had to tell her.  It's Graham... like the cracker.

Bleepin' teachers these days... don't they teach our kids anything?  Oh wait... I'm a teacher... Doh!

So that was day one of swimming lessons.  Graham did great, and Daddy had to (got to?) sit up in the balcony area and read the Eugene Weekly while he did his thing.  I tried to watch, but you can only watch the same activity over and over again so many times.  Oh, the first thing they did was pretty cool.  Chelsea poured water over the kids' heads to get them used to being wet.  Graham was a little unsure at first, but he did fine.  Then after that she let the kids pour water on her.  Turn about is fair play, and Graham loved doing that!

Yay for swimming.  Graham and I are both excited about going back for round two tomorrow morning.

A slice of life (at our best!)

Last night was pretty great - from the minute I brought the kids home from daycare, everything went rather smoothly. Now that I think about it, there wasn't even any mention of time outs! Because I know I'm going to need to come back and read this again on a not-so-great night, I thought I would detail the evening here.

I got done with work around 4:30 and went to pick up the kids. When we got home (shortly after 5) Graham settled into the couch to watch one of his shows and Ellie was excited to play with the "kid drawer" in the kitchen while I started dinner and cleaned up some of yesterday's dishes. She was fairly content to empty out the drawer and cook in her own kitchen while I worked. When she wasn't happy with that anymore, I put her in her chair and started feeding her as I was finishing dinner for Graham and I. I gave Ellie some finger foods while Graham and I ate (he ate almost everything on his plate!!) and she eventually fell asleep for her little post-dinner power nap (often needed to make the rest of the evening run smoothly). Graham played and Ellie napped while I cleaned up the kitchen....I even managed a call to mom while doing all of that, so got to catch up with her too! Just as I was finishing my chat with mom and the kitchen, Ellie woke up. I got her out of her high chair and the three of us went to the living room to play.  Graham turned off the TV (his idea!) and wanted to play "garbage truck".....EVERYTHING is a garbage truck these days - he goes to pick something up, then goes through the whole garbage truck dumping motion. While he was doing that, Ellie was playing with some of her toys and eventually had the most fun with her own socks (?!) It was sooo nice to see them just quietly and happily playing :) 

Around 7:30 we went upstairs to get ready for bed. Graham sat in my room with the iPod touch (playing educational games!!) while I got Ellie ready for bed and gave her her bottle. When I was done there I got Graham ready for bed and he settled in to watch Sprout until Nina (from the goodnight show) said goodnight. It didn't take him long after that to fall asleep, and I wasn't far behind.

Disclaimer: Please know that this is NOT the norm - more like the exception to the rule....that's why I'm writing about it. 

Ellie woke up at 4:30 for her morning snack and diaper change - Graham is still asleep and I think the rain has stopped for the time being....that's right, it's raining AGAIN! Today is a busy day, but should be a good one. I'm making an offer on a house today at 11:00 so please think some good thoughts for me :)  It's Wednesday, so that means lunch out with my friends. I have a haircut/color this afternoon and then an end-of-the-year work party to go to (please let the rain go away by then!) Graham has also been invited out this evening and will be attending a 'dinner function' with Pa-Paw...pretty exciting!

Catching up on pictures - some forgotten gems!

I was far behind on editing, printing, and backing up my pictures - this weekend I did all of the pictures from March, April, and May. While going through them all, I found a few that I forgot to post and share stories about on the blog.

Here are a few from April....

G riding his bike through our neighborhood to the park ("don't push me mama!")

Ellie's first ride on the swings!

Graham riding through the park - just like the big kids :)

Very important memories for sure - I don't know how they slipped past me!

Yard Sale Fun

Kara and I had a yard sale yesterday - it was a tiny bit profitable, and sooooo entertaining!

Some of our favorite visitors were:

• The group of older gentlemen who came bright and early - they had fun looking at baby clothes and patio glassware :)  We enjoyed listening to them tease each other - they were definitely having a good time...
• The woman opening a preschool here in Eugene - thanks for the info!
• The woman already running a daycare here in Eugene - got lots of stuff AND encouraged others to do the same :)
• The woman who proudly showed us the Elvis t-shirt she got at the yard sale she had just been to (and was wearing) and her friend who helped us properly display the patio glassware and eventually convinced the Elvis t-shirt lady to buy it
• The woman who bought TONS of Ellie's clothes and supplies for a baby she doesn't even know the gender of yet (major wishful thinking going on there!)
• Our friends Tamra and Dena who came by to keep us company and soak up some sunshine
• The woman from the pet grooming place who said I had everything she'd been looking for :)

I'm sure Kara will have other favs that I forgot to mention - there were so many....

a little more from last weekend...

We were very lucky to have nice weather last weekend, so we took advantage of it and made our way to "the big park with the mountains" on Sunday.

Ellie and I hung out on a blanket.....

...while Wil followed Graham around the play structures

almost feels like a "where's Waldo" kind of picture :)  It was a busy place, but Graham had a great time. Hopefully the weather will continue to get warmer - I'm very ready for Spring.

LOVE the sunshine!

From the moment Graham noticed the sun was going to shine today (while we were eating breakfast) he was asking to go outside - he LOVES to be outside :)

His wish was finally granted later in the morning when Wil took him and Ellie to the park down the street. Graham asked if he could ride his bike to the park - he's doing such an awesome job of getting around on it and I think there's going to be a lot of bike riding this spring/summer.

While Wil and the kids were at the park I ran a couple of errands and brought home another of Graham's favorite things for lunch - a corndog. He had one at Red Robin the last time we had dinner there and has been asking for one almost daily since. We made the mistake of getting mini corn dogs once - he definitely prefers the full size version...I think it has something to do with it being on a stick.

After nap I took the kids out to the backyard for more outside time - we must take advantage of the sun while it shines here. Graham and I played basketball....

....and Graham also found some of his digging toys in the shed.

So Wil and I were both treated to a "meal" of mac & cheese, blueberries, and a drink - with a spoon of course :)

Ellie enjoyed rolling around outside too - as much as she could anyhow 'cause those teeth finally came crashing through today.

Despite everything that's going on with her (more about her dr. appointment in an upcoming post) she is still so smiley and happy - I love that :)

As I was editing the pictures from today there was one more series of photos that made me laugh a little. Graham LOVES his little sister and is often hugging and kissing her or laying down next to her. But every once in awhile (they really are rare) I see him noticing that she is getting something that he would like to have - most often that involves being with me or Wil.

Today, it was laying on the blanket with daddy - Graham insisted that Ellie was in his spot and he wanted her to move. See how confused and sad the poor little guy looks?!

Wil reminded him that it wasn't necessarily his spot...it's just a spot and Ellie was in it at the moment. But no worries Graham, you can lay down here right next to Ellie....

tee hee - always on his terms, ya know?!  Fine....I'll lay down here next to y'all, but I'm going to face the other way.  But not to worry, he didn't seem too upset about the whole incident...

We took a field trip to Home Depot before dinner to get some replacement light bulbs for Graham's airplane night light - I had no idea how difficult it would be to find them, but it took some hunting!

It was an awesome day to be outside and I'm happy to say we took full advantage of it - I hear it's supposed to rain tomorrow...