Merry Christmas!

The day has come and gone...but I still haven't shared it with you...so here goes.

We had a blessed and happy Christmas. Sure...my pregnancy brain caused us to miss out on a few traditions...but the kids didn't seem to notice. We went to Memaw and Epa's house, so it was nice to relax on the cooking bit and just assist Mom.

We went to a Christmas eve service at Mom's church and then did the annual Birthday Cake for Jesus afterward.  Eliza really got into it and sang so sweetly! Both the girls helped make the cake this year.

I did  remember to give them both their Christmas Eve gift: PJs.  We stuffed the stockings...and all the usual hoopla. But, when we put the kids to bed, it felt like we'd forgotten something. Couldn't remember what....

After snuggling them down in their warm little beds, I remembered: COOKIES! How do you forget to leave Santa cookies????? I wouldn't dare pull them out of bed just to leave him a note and cookies, so I just did it myself. Jeez! In the morning, Addie pulled a note out of the tree that SHE had written him. It was so sweet!She thanked him for the Christmas gifts and wished him a Merry Christmas. She was disappointed that Santa didn't see it. It's not too late to send it to the North Pole, I hope.

I asked Addie what her favorite gift was and she told me it was her "make-up" set. 

We asked Eliza what her favorite Christmas gift was and she said, "Christmas". I translated that to mean her dolly that comes in an infant carrier. Addie translated that to mean the stacking blocks she had given E for Christmas. Guess it's best that we don't know...that way we both will think we're rockstar gift givers. :)

The kids got some quality time with Epa and Memaw. Eliza was a bit hyper...running around like a, well, a two-year old! Addie did a lot of painting and crafts. I napped a lot. Micah and Dad (& Lucas) took a nice run on Dorner trail. Mom crocheted a hundred million rosettes for the girls' hats (because she's crafty like that). And baby boy...did his usual acrobatics in my womb. 

The dogs LOVED their squeaky toys...I had to put them up because they tried to get into them the night before we left for Topeka...sneaky little things! It's nice to see Kaylee act like a puppy when she thinks someone is going to toss her new toy for her to fetch. 

This goes without saying, but our Christmas was blessed. The weather was nice, the dogs got walks, the kids played HARD with their new toys, and boy did my mom make an amazing Christmas meal!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well! Now that we are past the Christmas rush, I'm realizing that I only have ONE month before our little man makes his entrance into the world. There is so much to do to prepare for him, including NAMING him! Let's pray (YOU too- we need it) that Micah and I come to a happy consensus in the next couple weeks. Surely, we can find something we both like, right? :)

Can YOU believe it?

I'm actually updating my blog!!! It's been on my list of things "to do" for some time now. In fact, I found a list by my bed from last Monday and it was almost identical to my list THIS Monday! That's how fast I'm moving.

Of course, I've been sick with a massive cold, performed a play in my church (with lots of lines in all...I thought I might get lucky and just be Mary- but NO. Totally more involved!), we also got a majority of the baby's room done. It's going to be adorable!!!

I'm digressing. So, what have we Hunts been up to lately? Nothing earth-shattering...yet very busy and important. I am, after all, growing a baby! I'm 34 weeks along now...only six weeks left!!! Here's my 8 month belly pic:

I'm much bigger with #3 (who still doesn't have a name) than I was with Addie Sue and Eliza Ann!

Addie Sue was a flower girl in our nephew's wedding.
She and Sydney (her cousin) looked beautiful and took their job very seriously:

Poor E was exhaused. The wedding was at 2 pm...nap time. She was running around the reception like a maniac...so I strapped her in a high chair just so that I wasn't constantly chasing her around. Here's how she spent her time at the reception:

GOING...

 GOING...

 GOING...

 GONE!!!!

Addie and Daddy danced in the meantime. It was so sweet, it make this hormonal mama cry!

This was our first year to participate in Operation Christmas Child...which is put on by Samaritan's Purse. It's a tradition that many families take part in...including my own when I was younger. However, I've never gotten around to doing it with our kids. All you do is decorate a shoebox and fill it with necessities, toys, and a few goodies, and they are sent to children in orphanages all around the world. This is some kids only chance to hear about Jesus and to hear that they are LOVED.

  I'm glad my girls got to help with this project, but know we have a few lessons to learn. Both of them wanted to keep the some of the items inside the box and I found myself repeating, "These gifts are for children who don't have a mommy and daddy. Put it back please." Something to that effect. This is a tradition I'm happy to continue...I think it will eventually sink in with my kiddos & they will hopefully learn to think of others' needs instead of just their own.

Addie and Eliza saw Santa at Bass Pro...but I don't have a picture to show you. They give you a copy so you cannot take your own. I took Eliza to Crown Center with some friends from college and she wanted NOTHING to do with Santa (although she thought he was worthy of a High Five). In fact, none of the kids were too impressed with Santa. I think Lexi was the only one that actually sat on his lap willingly. 
Here are all the two year olds:

 Left to right: Sam, Eliza, Ava, Graham, and Lexi. I have a picture of these kiddos (minus Sam) when they were infants...

Left to Right: Lexi, Ava, Graham, & Eliza

My how things have changed!!!

Other items to note:

• I'm officially a director with Thirty-One! This is a mystery to me b/c I'm not a salesperson in anyway. I think I just got in at a really good time and people have signed up under, thus...making me a director. The timing is a bit off, since I'm having a baby next month. I will take a maternity leave and hopefully get back into the swing of things. Don't really know exactly how much time being a director with take. I know I will have to host trainings on the phone and in person every other month...hopefully nothing too overwhelming. I've also only got one month to go before I get my $1000 bonus from Thirty-One!!! Yay!

• Kaylee and Lucas are doing well. I haven't taken them on walks as frequently as they expect. Poor doggies. They are sweetie pies. We did take them out to look at Christmas lights on Saturday night just so they could feel included in a family outing. It drove Micah nuts. BUT- he knew what he was getting into when he married me. That's why he calls me "Snow White!

Okay....I'm hoping to start updating every week again. Look again next Monday to see what I've come up with. Until then, have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Fall Pictures

Our friend, Anthony, took some pictures of the girls at Burr Oaks a couple weeks ago. The plan was to get Eliza's two year pictures...however, I ended up being in some of them because Eliza just wanted to "hold you Mommy."

I think they turned out great...minus the preggo pictures of me. We really lucked out with the weather!

Eliza Ann...is two.

Our little sweetie pie turned two on Oct. 28th. As I sit back and reflect on her life, I can't help but smile. She has brought so much joy to our family and I can't imagine the Hunt family without her.

Can you believe this is the same little person??????

We celebrated with family and a few friends...nothing big and grand. But, I think Eliza had fun regardless. She got a lot of new toys that she shared...mostly...with her little friends.

 And she got to hold baby Zander...which, in her opinion, was the best gift of all!

 She ate some yummy cake...

And the kids all got to be a little silly by the end of the night...

 There are so many things I love about Eliza. I won't bore you with them all...just a few:

• She often laughs when she falls down.
• She loves to wrestle.
• She's quick to share a doll with a friend who is crying.
• She says "sorry" without being prompted.
• She loves to sit on the potty (and make a potty sound with her mouth)...then say "All done!"
• She says, "I did it!"
• She loves to cuddle...when you catch her in the right mood.
• She LOVES babies and pats her lap so they can sit in it.
• I can tell she will make friends easily- her personality is funny!
• She still says, "Mommy hold you" when she wants me to hold her.
• She insists on having chocolate milk in the morning, like her sister.
• Her lovey is a constant companion and is never far from her.
• She is starting to be able to reason. So bribes work fantastic with her now. Ex: "Take one more bite of your chicken and you can get down." She opens her mouth like a birdie!

There are so many fabulous traits of this two-year old. Those of you who know her, you know what I'm talking about. There will never be another Eliza--- and I'm sooooo glad she's mine! :)

Okay...enough bragging about my pretty, smart, and sweet two year old. Now onto life in general:

We met my friend Carrie at Burr Oaks the other day for a playdate. Addie and Kaden haven't seen much of each other since Addie started Kindergarten. They had fun walking the trails and looking for turkeys (of course, all they really needed was a mirror to spot the turkeys).

Kaden, Addie, Lexi, and Eliza

The girls love to wrestle and play with Daddy. Eliza was yelling, "Look at this Mommy!"

We also celebrated Halloween but I was unable to get any photos b/c I misplaced my camera. I'll get some from my mom when they return from their trip to Australia. The girls loved "Trick-or-Treating" but Eliza really just wanted to get a look at everyone's cats and/or dogs when they answered the door. She'd say "Lookie! A dog. Hi doggie!" Then, she's perseverate on them until we could lure her away from the open door. She managed to make it inside a couple home before we caught her! Seriously...I'm glad no one gave us their cat!

Addie sorted and counted all the loot after Trick-or-Treating. She was the most beautiful Jasmine.

Eliza wasn't so particular with her candy. She handed M&Ms to Epa then scattered them all over the floor. You can bet she still ate them though.

Where to begin...

 I have so much to write about...don't know where to begin. Life is busy...like it is for everyone else. And- I haven't made this blog a priority. I mentally make a list of things to mention on here, but rarely get around to it. So, here are a few highlights.

 My girls are becoming friends! There is almost a four year age gap, but these two still have fun together. Yesterday, they were cuddling on the couch and watching TV, so I snapped a quick picture.














My dad offered to stain our deck for us...it was in really bad shape. He didn't have to offer twice. We took him up right away.

Before














Unfortunately, nothing is ever as easy as you think it's going to be. He was planning on spraying the deck with an oil-based stain. But, we got a latex one, so every single board had to be painted...by hand. It took days longer and Dad wasn't able to complete it by himself--- or in the time he had allowed. I ended up doing quite a bit during nap times. The original color Micah got was atrocious too! We had a hiccup with HD trying to get them to fix it. No matter what they tried, they said it would always be orange.


First color


So the end result is not the color I would have picked, but it was MUCH better than the original. Something I can live with anyway. The deck is sealed and preserved now too, which was the whole point of staining it in the first place.

Tadaaaa!

Of course, the dogs got stained too!



 I have to show you some of Addie's writings. She's doing great at reading and sounding out words as she writes. It's fun to see how she invents words based on their sounds. I'm really proud of how well she is doing in school.

 





Micah and I always take turns putting the kids to bed. One will read to Addison, the other to Eliza...then we switch the next night. However, lately, Eliza has wanted to listen to Addie's books at night. She squeezes herself in between Addie and me/daddy and sits still MOST of the story. 

 

Five months belly shot
 

 Our nephew and his fiancee had their little man Zander last week. We went to meet him at the hospital. Addie was wonderful while holding him. Eliza was intrigued...as always. She kept scooting closer to get a better look, but was gentle the entire time. She never did poke him as I expected. Guess she understood that a baby this size was off limits. Don't worry about her not getting a chance to love on Zander. She got her day in the sun. She held him while on Micah's lap!
 

Last Friday, we met up with a high school friend of mine for a playdate at Deanna Rose Farmstead. Angie married another good friend of mine (Justin)...and their little boy is the spitting image of Justin. He was adorable! Eliza loved him...and he seemed to enjoy her kisses too! I hope we get to see more of them soon!

 

 On a more serious note...My Kaylee hit the bottom again this past weekend. We came home from the hospital from meeting baby Zander and discovered a huge COSTCO size bag of chocolate chips had been devoured by someone...hmmm. I can only assume that Lucas pulled it out of the pantry, but b/c Kaylee is the alpha, she probably ate it all and he was forced to watch.

Unfortunately, her love affair with chocolate was almost/perhaps still her doom. She ended up have pancreatitus again. I was up quite of bit of the night with her while she puked and pooped all over. By the morning, I knew I had to take her in. Friday was probably one of the worst days of my life. She pooped all over the back of my car on the way to the vet and Dr. Wingert said he wanted to keep her over night so she could get some fluids in her. She came home the next day...but was incredibly woozy and shaky. This morning, it appears that she is going to be okay. I've been cooking her chicken and hiding her meds in there to help her keep them down. She followed me up the stairs twice today---- which is HUGE! I know we are on borrowed time with her. I cry every time I think about losing her.

She laid in the sandbox today while I pushed E in the swing.

The face of an angel...

Finally, Eliza took a nasty fall at our Community group last night....while holding a baby stroller...on the stairs. It was traumatic for everyone who saw it. But, it appears her eye took the brunt of it and she should recover. Too bad I have to face all the stares from strangers when we run errands today!

There are some good things that happened this week. 

• Micah "fixed" my microwave...after I lived without it for 5 days. He discovered the breaker needed to be flipped. I've never claimed to be smart!
• I went to a Women's Retreat from my church.
• My mom came up and took the girls to the Blue Springs Princess Party (since I was at the Retreat). More pictures to come- I forgot to snag them from her camera.