My Kids

I know its been awhile since I blogged, I have no excuse. I wanted to take a minute to brag about my kids. Last night I had one of those moments where I was just so grateful to my Heavenly Father for these miracles he has trusted me with.

Hunter is getting so smart! He is learning a ton at his preschool. He surprised us yesterday by reciting all the months. I had no idea he even knew what month we are in now, let alone all 12 months names! He is beginning to read two letter sounds (i.e. ta, te, ti, to, and tu) and we have even noticed his speech getting better! He is such a good boy and strives to be better. When you tell him he is being bad, he reacts by being worse, but when you tell him that the way he's acting makes you sad, he wants to make you happy so he will try hard to be good. He has memorized his part for the children's sacrament program, and knows most of the words to the songs. He always wants to help at home and is so good at putting away the silverware, that he likes to take the ones that are already in the drawer out, then match them all! He loves to have me come in to check his room once he's cleaned it and gets very excited! I love this boy so much!

Grace loves Hunter so much. This September was very hard on her when Hunter started school. She would cry any time ANY of us left her, either with my mother in law, a babysitter, or at the childcare center. She has never been clingy, but she's always had Hunter... She has gotten used to him being gone in the mornings now, and Chris has switched shifts to swings, so he's home in the morning with her. The mornings have allowed Chris and Grace to bond with each other. Grace is very tough physically, most likely from being the youngest, and getting bullied by her brother, but has a very tender spirit. She cried in church last month when I was holding her. "I'm happy, tecause I love you so much, that's why I'm crying." she tearfully told me when I asked her why she was sad. She also will start crying if anyone else is crying, and is very good to give comforting hugs. She is learning so much as well, she knows all of Hunter's letter flashcards and has memorized her sacrament meeting part, too. She loves to put all her babies asleep at various times during the day, and will come out whispering for us to be quiet. I'm so lucky to have such a sweet little girl!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

So we went out to Chinese with Chris' Dad and sister who are up to visit. When it came time to open fortunes, Hunter's said he will go far in the medical profession. I looked at Chris and said "Yes, our son's going to be a doctor!" Hunter tilted his head and asked "Am I really going to be a doctor?" So I gave him the parental pep talk of "you can be anything you want". He thought about that for a while, then exclaimed "OK, I'm going to be a Sir!" and put his finger on top of his lip like a mustache. I'm not sure where he came up with that, but it was pretty cute.

Smoking or Non?

So I had to share a cute story about Hunter. Well, cute might be the wrong word, let's just say that it's cute now, but at the time it was just embarrassing. Hunter has started to notice when people smoke around him, and we've been teaching him that it will make you sick, and is bad. So the other day we were coming out of Costco, and it was obvious that someone had just put out a cigarette. Hunter said "Mommy, some one's smoking out here! They're going to get sick." I nodded, and kept walking toward our car. A few spaces from where we were parked, Hunter saw a lady smoking in her car with the windows rolled down. He pointed at her and said loudly (I'm sure loud enough for the lady to hear, however I didn't look back to see) "Look Mommy, there she is, that's the lady that's been smoking!!!" I pretty much threw the groceries in the car and booked it outta there.

Poison Hunter

In May, Hunter got in to Poison Something. We still aren't completely sure what it was. The doctor put him on steroids and gave us some cream to put on. He told us the steroids would make him hungry, grumpy, and not want to sleep. He was on them for seven of the longest days of my life. He would burst in to tears because Grace looked at him wrong, and refused to go to bed until after ten every night (which might not seem that late, but he normally goes to bed at eight). It's been a couple months now, and he still has a slight scar on both cheeks. Here's some pictures of the worst of it.

HuJo

I have always been a nickname girl, so when Chris told me our first son's name would be Hunter Joseph, I racked my brain for a nickname. When Hunter was few months old, Chris and I came up with HuJo (pronounced Hoo-Joe) for HUnter JOseph. We called him that for awhile, then it kinda faded, but lately we've started using it again. The other day, I was talking to him about something, and I called him Hunter. He looked at me and said "Mo-om, call me HuJo". So, I guess that means he likes it.... ;)

Up

I took the kids to see Up last Thursday. It's the first time Grace has been to the theater. It was a lot of fun. The movie was great! Perfect for a 3 and 4 year old, so there wasn't too many scary parts! I admit, I cried a few times, but I dare you to see it and not tear up. I had a really good time, it reminded me of going to the Garland with my mom when I was little. We got a large popcorn and pop to share, and I brought little brown bags so they could hold their own popcorn. I love that my kids are getting old enough to do these kind of things, now. The only bad thing was the price, but we went to the matinee, which helped a little. It was worth the $25, though.

Gracie May, What can I say?

Once upon a time, on a Monday long, long, ago (or just last Monday), I decided to mow the lawn. We had a Root Beer tasting party (totally fun group fhe idea) to go to that evening, so I started about 3 to give me plenty of time to shower and get the kids ready after I was done. About one round into it, Hunter comes running over to me, Grace close behind, with a worried look on his face. I stop and ask if everything is OK, and he says "No, Grace locked us out of the house". Grace immediately says "sorry I do that Mama". I think, OK the back door is unlocked, and the garage door is probably unlocked as well. I go check them out, and surprise, surprise, she, in fact, locked all of them. On to the windows I go. All are locked except (look for the irony) Grace's. I pop out her screen, slide open her window, and shove Hunter through to be our hero and unlock the doors. I start to head around front, when I hear his panicked "Mommy!!" I run back over to the window and he proceeds to tell me that Grace's door is locked from the hallway (we have latches to keep them out or in depending on the crime). At this point, I give up hope of making the party, and start wondering how I can hitch a ride with my 2 kids (without car seats) (or money) into town to pick up Chris' keys. I ask to borrow our neighbor's phone, and make the call to Chris. He asks one of his co workers who gets off at 4:30 if she would mind bringing me the key. She said that would be fine, so I decided to finish mowing the lawn while I waited. The only problem was, I was upset and used less caution than normal and ran over part of a stump, which bent my blade. I have no clue about lawn mowers, so I thought I had broken the whole thing. So now I'm close to tears, sweaty, with a 4 yr old asking how come I broke the lawn mower and a 3 yr old saying she's sorry she locked us out. Enter neighbor: He asks if there's anything he can do, and I'm about to ask for either a shot of whisky or a shot in the head, but his son chimes in and says how he's locked his parents out lots of times, and his dad is an expert on taking off hinges. So in goes Justin (my neighbor) into Grace's (messy) room. He takes off the hinges, and Hunter squeezes through the crack (because the door can't come completely off due to the hook on the outside), and unlocks the front door for us. Justin also informs me that you can buy replacement blades for the lawn mower, and that I'm more than welcome to use theirs to finish the job. And we also made the party. The end.