Hunt Family Connection

Family getaway to the coast....

Kenny and I are sometimes a little selfish about the coast and spend time there on non-kid weekends. We decided it was a good time to take everyone over to enjoy a weekend together.

We left as early as we could on Friday afternoon, and it wasn't long before this was the scene in the back seat....

We settled into our cabin and headed out for dinner at Georgie's in Newport (yummy fish-n-chips!) Here's the view from our cabin's deck - love being close enough to hear and smell the ocean :)

On Saturday morning Kenny spotted some whales and got us all up and out to the beach....

Kenny stayed out at the beach with the kids while I fixed breakfast in the cabin. We spent the day sticking close to the cabin. We enjoyed having the pool and hot tub all to ourselves :)

Kenny taught Graham the fine art of the cannonball....

And Ellie spent a lot of time along the edges of the pool - she's still a bit scared of the water and when she does agree to get in with you she hangs on to you for dear life!

She did jump in to Kenny a few times, but it takes a lot of talking her into it. Graham is feeling super comfortable in the water and was swimming around like a fish.

Graham and Faith spent some time down at the beach earlier in the day. The kids wanted to go back later in the afternoon, but the weather was pretty miserable. We braved the wind and rain and went out there anyhow. Kenny did some artwork on the rocks for me....

And I did a little art with the kids....

We had dinner together in town and then came back to the cabin to make s'mores....

...in front of the fireplace!

It was still a bit wet, chilly, and windy, so we decided to get a fire going and make the treats inside the cabin. They tasted the same and everyone enjoyed the treat before bedtime :)

On Sunday morning we had breakfast at The Adobe, then hit the beach one more time...

(every one of those kids are a little bit crazy to be out there in the water if you ask me!)

We stopped at the aquarium in Newport before heading home. They have a new children's area that I hadn't seen before....

And of course a lot of things that we have seen before....

Graham had a blast in the hurricane simulator, and it was especially funny when Ellie tried to "save" him from it....

And speaking of Ellie, our little flower-picker managed to find some little yellow flowers behind a fence. She is absolutely obsessed!!

We stopped in Florence at the A&W for a little lunch (CHEESE CURDS!) and then made our way home. It was a great weekend away together - something I'd like to make sure we do on a regular basis. If you'd like to see more pictures from our trip you can click HERE.

Ellie Style

It was high style for Ellie this week, which isn't really different from any other week now that I think of it.

She's been having a hard time settling down for bed at night (I'm thinking we're getting really close to giving up the afternoon nap - boo!) and often she spends the time before she falls asleep trying on all kinds of clothes that she finds in the drawers and closet. One night she came marching out looking like this...

I love every single thing about that outfit, especially the sequined pink santa hat :)

But this is not what she was wearing when she finally fell asleep that night. When I went in to check on her before I went to bed I found this....

She often falls asleep with shoes on - in case any one is wondering, I always remove them and tuck her in to what looks like a more comfortable position :)

Ellie was also very excited to get to try on her dance recital outfit this week...

We had to give it back to the dance instructor after we tried it on - apparently it will be getting more sequins.

Ellie knows what she wants to wear and she definitely has her own unique sense of style. While it can be completely frustrating when we're trying to get out the door in the morning, it often makes me smile and giggle to see what she comes up with. I try to remember that it's not super important that she matches....that it's more important to let her be who she is. LOVE her.

An outing with Pa-Paw

Pa-Paw asked if the kids would be interested in a bike ride after dinner tonight. They were very interested :)

They took off and were gone a little longer than I expected - turns out this is why....

Can't beat a bike ride that takes you to DQ! The ride seemed to help everyone get to sleep pretty quickly. I'm looking forward to summer when we can get good outside time more often, and aren't rushed to get to bed by a certain time :)

Mother's Day

It was a WONDERFUL day - so relaxing from beginning to end.

Kenny and I picked up the kids from Wil's house and went out for a Mother's Day breakfast (complete with a mimosa for mama!) We even managed to get a half-way decent picture of me and crazies after breakfast :)

After returning the kids to Wil, I got to do a little shopping, saw a movie (Silver Linings Playbook - soooo good!), talked with my mama, spent some time out on the patio with Kenny, and then enjoyed a yummy dinner that Kenny made for me (while he let me watch whatever I wanted on TV - hello Long Island Medium!)

It was a great day - I spent much of it thinking about the kids and how lucky I am to be their mom. They mean the world to me, they give me purpose, they make me proud, they bring me joy, and they make me laugh. I'm also very lucky to have so many moms in my life. My friends that are moms keep me sane and are a wonderful resource and inspiration to me as we all walk through this mom-ing journey together. My family is full of woman that have looked out for me and helped me become who I am today like my aunties and grandmas, and now my sister-in-law who I admire and am amazed by as she raises four beautiful girls. And most of all....my mom - never more than a text, phone call, or face-time conversation away. Every year that I am a mom I appreciate her more and more - this is not easy work, but she always made it look like it was :)

A very Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there - I leave you with a link to an article I read the other day. It's making me change how I look at each day as a mom : Today I Lived and You Did Too

Scenes from another busy week.....

Can't believe how quickly the weeks fly by and I can't believe how hard it is for me to stay awake at night once the kids go to bed! So until I find more hours in the day, I guess we'll stick with the weekly wrap-up :)

Graham's class made thank-you cards for the volunteers that help in the classroom. Since I've been doing the homework envelopes, I got one of those thank you cards! Graham drew the picture of me on the front and then everyone in the class signed their names on the inside.

I love the picture he drew/colored - especially my lovely "tan?!" and my nice long and skinny legs :)

When we got home from soccer practice on Wednesday night I told Ellie to get ready to get in the tub - this is what I saw when I headed down the hall....

I went to Ellie's preschool for the Mother's Day Tea - this is what was waiting for me at my seat.

Ellie let me take this picture of the two of us, but things kind of went a little sideways after that.

She gave Mrs. Matson a hard time about taking our picture and didn't want to smile, and then she decided she didn't want to sing the songs that the rest of the class was singing for their moms. So my lovely and stubborn daughter stood next to everyone with her thumb in her mouth and a sad look on her face. This unwillingness to perform has happened several times now - not sure what it's all about.

Graham had his very last soccer practice on Friday night - he swiped my sunglasses and was goofing around a bit during a water break...

He looks a little bit like a fly, but I love him :)

Kenny and I stopped at the mall to pick up his new glasses and then had dinner at Noodles & Company to celebrate the weekend finally arriving :)

It was a good weekend!

Friday night we all went out for pizza and then introduced Kenny, Ellie, and Graham to Sweet Life - YUMMY!

(Ellie getting every last bit of gelato - she loved it!)

The kids are getting better at helping make the muffins - it actually makes the process go a little quicker now!

It was a big soccer weekend with a game on Saturday and Sunday.....

It was so nice - very sunny and warm :)

The kids both enjoyed playing outside....skateboarding, swinging, and can you believe that we're still getting use out of this car?!

It was such a busy weekend that I didn't even have time for a nap - crazy! We definitely had some great family time together though - love it when we all sit down and eat together (even though it can be a bit crazy!)

A special date with Kenny....

Ellie's been getting a bit frustrated with all of the focus on soccer lately. Her dance class is once a week, but soccer is twice a week for practice and one or two games every weekend. Sometimes it's tough being the little sister.

Kenny asked if he could do something special for Ellie this week while G and I were at soccer practice.

They walked to DQ and had dinner with ice cream for dessert - she could not have been happier :)

When I asked her later how it went, she told me it was "the loveliest time ever" - it definitely made her list of favorite things that night.

Major shout-out to Kenny on this one. For recognizing that Ellie needed some special attention, for staying up to do this even though he needed the sleep more (he's been keeping crazy work hours), and for making my girl smile....

It's nice to be able to give the kids special one-on-one time, and they are lucky to have so many people in our lives that can help do that.

Sunny soccer practice....

So happy that soccer practice has been sunny and a bit warmer - note the t-shirt and shorts!

While the weather has been good, we're still struggling a bit with Graham's behavior at practice. I'm fairly certain he wouldn't be acting like this if someone else's dad was the coach....been working a lot lately on respecting the grown-ups that he lives with.

Weekend activities

On Friday night we had the carnival - the kids were with Wil this weekend, so after the carnival Kenny and I went out to eat at BJs. Yummy fish and chips and a little quieter than the carnival!

Graham's team had a soccer game on Saturday....

They played a team that they were fairly evenly matched with - I think they had a great time :)

Kenny agreed to do some extra work on Saturday, so he wasn't home until dinner time. We grilled steaks and enjoyed the end of a very sunny day together...

We went out for breakfast together and took a walk downtown on Sunday morning. After breakfast we went to Jerry's to get some things we needed for a few projects.

One of the bigger projects on the list was pressure washing....

I'm amazed at what a difference it makes!

While Kenny worked on that, I went to work cleaning out the front garage/closet to make room for our bikes. Some things got moved or put away somewhere else...I'm starting to get a pretty big pile of things that need to be sold or donated. I'm very happy with the space I made for the bikes though - a little air in my tires and I'll be ready for a summer full of bike rides :)

More grilling tonight - love the weather we've been having lately. It was a busy weekend that went by far too quickly...time to get to bed and rest up for another full week!

A few other things from the week that was....

I wanted to include a few more photos from the past week....

On Tuesday night I got to go out for dinner and drinks with my friends Joyce and Leila.

There was a lot of talk about work, but also some talk about families and other goings on. I enjoy the time we spend catching up and am glad we make the time to do so :)

Ellie had a field trip to Papa's Pizza this week and the class all wore the tie dye t-shirts they recently made. This was a day she had been looking forward to for awhile....

(Notice the flowers in her hand - she is OBSESSED with picking flowers and recently admitted to us that she just can't stop! No need for an intervention just yet, but we have been working on having her refrain from picking flowers in someone else's yard or garden.)

She was especially cuddly that night so I enjoyed some good snuggles with her....

And she must have been pretty worn out, 'cause this is how I found her before I went to bed....

(I thought her legs looked so long....she's growing up so fast! Love that she had backpack on - no idea where she was heading when she fell asleep.)

The other big thing that happened this week was that our heating/cooling system was replaced - super huge project.

Not a very exciting project, but one that needed to be done. Already we've noticed a big difference in how it functions and we're hoping to save some money too. I know we'll be happy that it's up and running when it gets a little warmer.

Gilham Carnival

It was our first time at Gilham's school carnival - soooo many people, but so many fun things to do and see.

Graham and Roman met up and had fun playing games together. We got a shot of them at the photo booth with some fun props :)

(I had some fun with the RadLab filters)

Ellie was VERY excited to get her face painted....

She smiled pretty much the entire time it was being done.

All three of them enjoyed the eats...

....but Roman was the only one that could take the time to stop and smile for me :) I think they all had a great time - a great way to start the weekend!

Update on dance class

Ellie continues to LOVE her dance class and looks forward to it every week.

I have to admit that I really look forward to it too - it's pretty awesome to watch. This week the parents were invited in to see the dance they've been working on for the last few weeks. You can see it HERE - totally worth the time....I promise :) They are still working on it - she stopped them at that point in the song because it speeds up a bit so she's making some changes. They will be performing this in the showcase in June - such fun!

SIX Today

It was Graham's sixth birthday today. He's SIX. He's been around here with us for SIX years now.Wow!

Here are some shots from this past year....

He's looking more and more like a big kid all the time. He's also been acting like a big kid more often - I think going to school has been very good for him.

He is just as curious as ever - asking questions about what things are, what words mean, how things work - and lately he's started thinking about different inventions and things that he would like to create when he gets older. He loves numbers and math facts and concepts seem to come easily to him. He's also making good gains in reading and is reading little stories and easy readers to me now. He doesn't love "homework", but we try to do a little bit every night.

He does love Minecraft and playing on the iPad or Wii. He's loving his Legos right now and is getting into "building" things. He's taking a break from tennis and playing his first season of soccer, and we just got him a bigger bike so I'm hoping he will continue to love going for rides with us. Graham LOVES the people that are important to him and continues to be very sweet and in tune with what others are feeling.

Graham is very busy and has a hard time remembering what someone may have asked him to do just a few seconds ago - he needs reminders to stay focused. As quick as he is to be sweet and caring, he can also be just as quick to his temper or talking back. We're working on it!

We didn't have daycare today, so it was a great excuse for me to stay home with Graham to help him celebrate this very special day. He spent the night with Pa-Paw last night and Pa-Paw took him to school. Ellie and I picked him up from school then spent the rest of the day together. A highlight of the day was getting to eat dessert first at lunch time....

Graham was also pretty proud about getting on his new bike - it's quite a bit bigger than his current bike, so he was learning about a different way to break and how to manage things when your feet don't quite touch the ground. Of course Ellie didn't want to be left out...

Graham got to pick where we had dinner, so we went to Red Robin. He decided he wanted them to know it was his birthday so they would sing to him (but he was a little nervous about it!)

All worth it to get the ice cream :) We stopped at Toys-R-Us after dinner for one more birthday treat and then headed home. It was still light outside and the kids got to play out there until it was time for bed - love it!

I had a great time celebrating my little man today - I couldn't be prouder of him and I can't wait to see what this coming year will bring for him.

G's Minecraft Birthday Party

Graham LOVES playing Minecraft, so it was an easy pick for the birthday party theme this year. I don't know a lot about Minecraft, so I had to do some research to get ideas for the party.

The creeper cupcakes were a pretty big hit...

(many thanks to Faith for making the creeper faces....and helping with many of the other party details!)

The Minecraft props were also a big hit - I had a foam sword and pick axe and these two Minecraft heads that the kids could use to play with....

A great group of friends and family were able to join us....

The kids all did a great job playing together (and entertaining each other), and the moms enjoyed some time together in the sun!

Graham was pretty excited about getting his very own camera - I can't wait to see what he takes pictures of....

It was also time for a new bike - I think he was happy to upgrade :)

Everyone was happy when it was time for cupcakes - they disappeared fast!

(notice Kenny totally photo bombing here!)

It was so much fun - I always look forward to having everyone over to celebrate and spend time with us. We're very lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives and we've also been sooo lucky with the weather - the sun felt really good!

I leave you with one more creeper picture....any guesses about who is under that head?!?