Eddie's Birthday

We had the privilege of celebrating Eddie's birthday twice this last week. We celebrated it with the Hunter family on Sunday evening and then again on Tuesday with the Dover's and Nana since it was her birthday too!

I asked Eddie what he wanted for dinner on his birthday and he said he wanted macaroni and cheese, so I made homemade mac and cheese with bacon for dinner. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but I will definitely have to make it again so it is more consistent next time!

Eddie's likes haven't changed a whole lot since last year and everyone knows exactly what he likes, so it was no surprise that his birthday was full of Disney Cars! That seemed to be the theme for him and he LOVED it. He got Cars socks, a sleeping bag, a hauler and Celeste even bought him The King for his collection. Now we just have to teach him to share his cars with his brother! (I know, I won't hold my breath!)

Thank you to everyone who helped make his a happy little 3 year old on his birthday. I love him so much, it is so fun to watch him smile!

Grandma got him a Lightening scooter - needless to say, he is in love!

I forgot the camera at Nana's house, so I will post pictures of that night when my mom has a chance to send them! Happy Birthday Eddie and Mom!

Christmas Tree and Visiting Santa

After Thanksgiving is always the perfect time to set up Christmas, right!?! Well, we had to wait until Saturday when Kyle didn't have to work to set up the tree. It also worked out well because we were inspired after going downtown to see the tree, so the kids actually wanted to put the tree up on Saturday. I decided that I wasn't going to fight it when the kids said they wanted to decorate the tree, so if you come to our house this year, it's not the most beautifully decorated tree, but it was done with love and excitment by the kids!

Celeste and Eddie decorating the tree. We have our tree in the corner this year with the couches blocking it so little hands can't get it!

Daddy and Eddie put the star on the tree together this year. Eddie loved being able to help Daddy!

A week after setting up the Christmas tree (Last Saturday) we had a ward Christmas breakfast and party and Santa came to visit! Celeste was so excited, but she was the only one from our family who would go near him, so our family picture is a little silly with Eddie refusing to face anywhere near Santa, but it's still a cute picture!

Thanksgiving and Christmas Tree Lighting

We had such a nice Thanksgiving. It was very relaxed day starting with pie and the parade and then moving on to snacking and cooking and then on to football and relaxing while waiting for food to finish cooking. Kyle's mom always has pie for breakfast while she watches the parade, so that was what we did this year. We had such a great day in all!

The day after Thanksgiving Kyle wanted to take Celeste downtown to the tree lighting on Pioneer Square, so we packed up the kids and took them downtown on the MAX on a beautiful Friday evening. We got downtown just after they lit the tree, so walking on the sidewalk was like a fish swimming up stream! There were people everywhere, but everyone was happy and polite and the Christmas music was nice and loud and easy to sing to. After taking a picture of the tree and walking around, we went to the mall and walked around for a few minutes before heading back the way we came. I really enjoy simple and cheap outings like that. The kids love them and I don't have to spend a ton of money - What could be better!?!

We forgot our camera, so we used our cell phones to get pictures. They aren't the best, but I think you can still tell what it is!

Halloween

It's only a little late, but I wanted to post Halloween pictures before Thanksgiving so I wasn't too late! We had a fun year this year and got lots of use out of Celeste's costume and a decent amount of use out of Eddie's costume. Gordon had some Halloween outfits, so he only wore his costume once, but it was enough! So, Celeste's costume was a Vampire Bat, Eddie was Winnie the Pooh, and Gordon was Winnie the Pooh's Honey Pot!

Celeste's school held a Harvest Festival and the kids could dress up. Eddie didn't want to, so Celeste dressed in her costume with makeup and all. She loved it! The festival itself wasn't spectacular, but the kids were able to get lots of candy and prizes, so they were happy!

Then Grandma's ward held a Halloween carnival with chili dogs, scones and a cake walk. All of the kids could win cake or cupcakes and our kids did just that. They didn't win just 1 cupcake, no, they won a plate of cup cakes, so we had dessert for a couple days in a row for the the family!

Kyle was Captain Hammer, this is a kid as the "as seen on tv" guy (Billy Mayes), and Auntie Erin looked great in that wig!

Then our own ward's Halloween festival came up the day before Halloween, so we were able to go to that. It was just a bunch of craziness, but the kids got to go trick or treating inside the building like we usually do every year and their cousins were there, and Nana and Papa had decorated a classroom for trick or treating, so the kids enjoyed it until they got too tired to think!

Of course, that brings us to Halloween! We went to lunch and a movie during the day with Grandma. I am disappointed in myself though because it was a momentous occasion in the fact that this was the day Grandma got her very first cell phone!!! We are so proud of her!!

That evening the kids went trick or treating with their cousins Javen and Leann. It was a great night for trick or treating and Eddie did not want to come home after they were finished, he could have kept going for a while longer if we had let him, but he ended up happy when we told him he could eat the candy if he came inside!

It was a great holiday and now we are ready for the next holiday season to begin!

Disney on Ice

For Celeste's birthday we bought her tickets to Disney on Ice. We knew that she would love it and Eddie would love at least the Cars part, so we took the whole family. We should have forseen the fact that Gordon can't sit still for that long so he needed a babysitter, but other than that, it was a great time.

We got there early so we could take pictures of the princesses. The new princess, Tiana (I think) was there and Cinderella was there to take pictures of. We also took pictures of some of the princesses dresses and walked around a looked at all of the horribly expensive stuff that Disney so evily tries to sell to your kids knowing that your kids will throw a tantrum if they don't get their own way! Then we found our seats and the fun began!

Eddie loved the cars and both kids sang the songs from cars. Then The Little Mermaid came out. After that was The Lion King. Then there was an intermission, but poor Celeste didn't understand that there was a second half, so she thought we had to leave without seeing Tinker Bell. Poor girl, she was in tears and didn't want to get up, but really we just had her get up to go to the bathroom before the second half. After we explained things she was happy again and the second half was just as great as the first half. Celeste sang all of the songs from Tinker Bell and loved with Tinker Bell got to fly. Of course Mickey and Minnie were a favorite for both of our kids as well. Kyle said he was surprise at how good it was. I don't know why he wouldn't have liked it, it's Disney and it's expensive. If you have to pay for it, you better be able to enjoy it!!

The whole night was so much fun. Celeste was in heaven (if she tells you about it be sure to listen because this was her special thing!) and Eddie loved the part he actually saw! Gordon liked the music to begin with and danced during most of The Little Mermaid. We were able to get the tickets at a discounted rate and I think that we will definitely have to do it again sometime because we all had so much fun. (Next time we will leave the baby at home though - heads up Mom and Dad!!)

Celeste's First Day of School

Celeste is now in first grade. She is in Mrs. Campbell's class, she has only been there for one day, but really likes it! I took her to school yesterday for her first day and got pictures of her sitting at her desk. She knows a few of the kids in her class and her friend from the neighborhood is in a different class, but they can see each other at recess, so she is happy. She's 6 years old and in first grade. I can't believe she's getting so big!!

Celeste's 6 year old Birthday Parties

This year Celeste requested to have a birthday party with her friends and I knew that if I tried to have a party with her friends and our families altogether that we would all go crazy, so we split the day into two parties. Some may think I was crazy, but it actually went really well. The yard was clean for the day and all of the food was purchased before hand for both parties, plus I did all of the baking the few days before and we were set for the day and didn't have to try and keep the yard clean for more than one day (which is hard with a dog!!)

So, in the morning, we had Celeste's friends over for a party and lunch. We had a treasure hunt/pirate themed birthday party, so I made a treasure chest birthday cake. I googled "treasure chest cake" and found pictures of different cakes I could make. We had the elaborate one for the friends party, but I also had to make a cake for Celeste's friend who is lactose intolerant. She can't take pills or anything, so she just can't have any dairy. So, the pink cake was made especially for her. We had a treasure hunt around the neighborhood for the kids and a coloring contest that we ended up forgetting about and no one won anything! Oops!! She has some great friends who really know her because she absolutely LOVED all of her gifts.

Then, for the family party I made a little more simple cake for Celeste and Grandma Marla because their birthdays are only two days apart, so we celebrated them together. It is still a treasure chest, but I just baked candy bars into the cake instead of making two seperate cakes. We had so much cake from the morning party left over that we made everyone eat huge pieces of cake because at the family party so we wouldn't have any more left over cake! I don't know if everyone ate all of their cake, but I didn't care as long as it wasn't left in my house!

I think everyone had fun at both parties and Celeste enjoyed her day, so that was really all that mattered! I posted the pictures of her parties in a slide show on the side, so take a look there for the pictures of our 6 year old!

Gordon is Crawling!!

It is happening! Gordon can now crawl. It is still slow going so far, but he's getting around and he loves the freedom to be able to move and get where he wants to go. I'm having to really get on the other two kids to keep things off the floor so Gordon can't get them, but it is worth it to have a happier baby! He wants to do everything his older siblings do, so he is well on his way!

Erin's Wedding

We had a CRAZY weekend this weekend, but wonderful for the whole Hunter family. Erin and Spencer got married. A year and a half ago Erin wasn't sure what she thought of Spencer and boy has that changed. She is happy and looking forward to the future, wherever it may take her. Friday evening we spent the evening meeting Spencer's family and decorating for the reception at the church building. Kyle, Brandon, Jason, and Stephen spent time up on the ladder stringing lights and making sure they worked. During that time we also spent time wandering the church building trying to find where the round tables were kept just to find out that they were locked away in a closet. (Apparently they are afraid there will be a theft of large round tables or something!!) We decorated and moved things around and actually got home at a reasonable time of evening so the kids could go to bed and be ready for the next morning.



Saturday morning we got the kids bathed and fed and THEN got them dressed. Celeste was a flower girl with her cousins Kyleen and Tamsen and Spencer's niece. Eddie was the ring bearer and Gordon got to spend the morning with Uncle Jason. Michelle was asked to be the Matron of Honor, although all of us were there to help Erin in every way we could. We wouldn't have been able to pull most of it off without Cheryn there anyway, so it didn't really matter what any of us were called!! Erin also asked Kyle to walk her down the isle. Kyle and the twins have always been close. They had their fights growing up, but they have always been close, so it was an honor for Kyle to do that for her.



The wedding was short, but beautiful. The background of Multnomah Falls was spectacular and with the falls there was a cool breeze even though the heat was coming. We only started a half hour late too, so I was impressed overall!! Can you imagine a more perfect place for wedding pictures? During the ceremony the bishop encouraged us as their close friends and family help Spencer and Erin prepare to celebrate their first anniversary at the temple and I think that was the best thing he could have ever said. They want to be sealed and plan on working towards that over the next year, so I'm really excited to celebrate their first anniversary with them at the temple.

After the wedding we had a family luncheon and nap times and then got ready for the reception. Erin loves kids and fun and wanted this to be a party, and it was!!! She read that it is sometimes fun to have cotton candy and popcorn for kids at a reception, so they ended up making it a carnival theme complete with pizza, hot dogs, candy as decorations and to eat and of course, the cotton candy and popcorn. Erin also wanted to play songs that their siblings and other family members danced to at their own weddings, which made it even more memorable.

Over all it was a great day and so special for everyone. The Hunter family loves Spencer and is so excited for him to be an official part of the family! He's been around for a while now and the kids sometimes love him more than Auntie Erin, so we are glad that he is a part of the family now!!

We love you Spencer and Erin. Congratulations. In one of the pictures Spencer just told her that they were going to Maui for two weeks on their honeymoon, so she has her arms raised while cheering. Have fun in Hawaii you two!!!

Newport Family Vacation

Well, we made it! We decided to go to Newport for our family vacation this year. We had originally wanted to go to Utah so Mike and Brooke could meet Gordon and we could visit our friends and family there, but we just didn't have enough money to get there, so we decided to take a trip to Newport and visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium instead. I posted a slide show of the aquarium pictures. You can notice that Celeste was "floating" with the animals and fish in some of the pictures!

This is a picture of camp at Seal Rock. We didn't get many pictures, so you get several of Grim, but it was gorgeous and the perfect spot to camp.

On Monday we went to Newport and walked along the waterfront where all of the shops and boats are. We watched the boats come in from fishing and cleaning fish. The kids complained about the smell. We couldn't see the sea lions very well without paying a lot of money, so we zoomed in the camera and got a kind of fuzzy picture of a sea lion lying on the rocks. It ended up being a beautiful day, so we went to Nye Beach on a whim and let the kids and dog play. They were soaked and sandy and loved every minute of it! They actually didn't want to leave, but we finally pulled them away to go back to camp and make a fire for dinner.

Kyle also took pictures of the kids for the aquarium in case we lost one of them. He took pictures of Gordon so he wouldn't feel left out also, but these are the pictures of Celeste and Eddie. So, if we ever lose one of the kids somewhere, we have current pictures!!

4th of July Festivities

Well, the Hunters had a great day today. We started by going to Corbett for a pancake breakfast. We were afraid that it would be really crazy/busy and it would be a long wait for breakfast, but not for us!! We got there and got in right away and had an amazing breakfast.

After that Corbett had an old fashioned parade. Our ward extends into Corbett and some of the members of our ward live right on the parade route, so we parked at their house and watched from the base of their property on the highway. It started with the classic car show driving through throwing candy for all of the kids and then the parade of kids on horses and tractors and all sorts of atv's coming through throwing candy for the kids yet again. I don't have a picture of the candy, but let's just say that the kids have candy for the next year and Winco must LOVE the Corbett parade because we have a lot of their candy in our home now!!

After the parade we made our way over to the Corbett School grounds for a FULL day of playing. Kyle entered a pie eating contest and Celeste enjoyed the blow up toys all day long. She kept going and going and going all day long. Every once in a while she would come back for something to eat or drink and then she was off again. However, I forgot to bring new batteries and my camera died, so I didn't get pictures of the day. Casey recorded Kyle in the pie eating contest though, so I will post that soon. Kyle didn't win, but he sure had fun and enjoyed trying!

They also have a mole contest because moles are such a problem up in Corbett. They give prizes for the largest, the best dressed and all sorts of other prizes. It was quite strange, but fun to see at the same time. I couldn't do anything but laugh and the silly things that go on in small towns!

The fireworks were great as well. I tried to capture them as best I could. The batteries held out just long enough to get a few pictures before the camera had no power what so ever!

Over all, it was an extremely wonderful day. We've decided that we wouldn't mind at all doing it again next year. We set up s0me canopies and played games and just had fun all day long. Some of us got a little more sun than we had planned and we are all horribly exhausted, but what a fun way to celebrate the 4th for July. Happy 4th everyone!!

Hope at the end of the rainbow!

Well, as you have read in the past, my life has consisted of potty training a very stubbern little boy. Well, today I have to say, there is hope at the end of the rainbow! We went to the zoo with my mom, sister, and two sister-in-laws plus all of our kids. Eddie wanted to wear his Elmo underwear so badly that I told him he could, but if he pee-peed in them, then he would have to wear a diaper. After many bribes and forcing, we made it through the entire trip to the zoo with no accidents. Wahoo!!! I was so proud of him and he was pretty proud of himself. We unfortunately had a pretty big accident after we got home, but he didn't like it at all and I'm not sure he'll do it ever again because he hated how it felt! I think we have broken through and potty training can't get anything but better from here!! I post pictures when he gets his new underwear with Grandma!

Potty Training Stress

Well, after the first three days, hope is not lost, but boy has this become stressful!! Even candy isn't working on this little boy all of the time. On Sunday evening, Eddie pee-peed on the couch and we yelled at him and told him that he couldn't have candy unless he went in the potty chair and he said "no thank you". So, I tried again on Monday and we had another "accident" on the floor in the kitchen while I was feeding Gordon, so no candy and I was done for the day!! Diaper went on the rest of that day and the next with no candy for him. Today I thought we would try again and he pee-peed on my leg while sitting on my lap, so the diaper went back on until this evening. Finally, we may make a breakthrough (okay, maybe not, but at least I can wish!) He didn't want to wear his diaper any more, so he went in his bedroom and took the diaper off while we were in the other room. The next thing we know, he is in the bathroom and we hear, "I did it, Eddie did it!!" We did a dance and yelled hurray and gave him a piece of gum. He was so proud of himself, but we'll see if it will last for another day tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!

Going Strong on Day Three!

Day two went well, although there was no way for it not to go well when he was naked all day for potty training! He didn't have any accidents though and that is the point! Today, however, he has on underwear and still made it to the bathroom, so we are hopeful. We have plans this afternoon, so the challenge will be to see if he can make it while we are out and about! I think it's almost time for Eddie to go shopping with Grandma!!

Potty Training is Here!!!

We have begun the potty training stage. We'll see how it goes over the next few days, but so far only one accident (although we did just start today!) We'll keep you posted and put up pictures of his new underwear when he goes shopping with Grandma!!

The Grand Floral Parade

We have decided if the weather is going to be nice, we are going to be there. We are going to sit pretty much where we sat for the Starlight Parade by the library at 11th and Taylor. It should be a good spot for it once again. It may be a bit sunny, but sunscreen will be plentiful! If anyone wants to join us, you are more than welcome to!!

Parade Week Continues!

We have made it to the middle of the week and to the Junior Rose Parade. I wasn't sure if I was going to try and go by myself with the kids, but it just so happened that Auntie Erin wanted to go also, so we took the kids for a fun afternoon. On the way and when we got there it was overcast and perfect parade weather. We lathered up with sunscreen and started to enjoy the parade just in time for the sun to shine down hard. Auntie Erica's sister-in-law brought some umbrellas and let us borrow them for the kids, so even though they were hot, it could have been MUCH worse! It was a fun parade with candy throwing and everything for kids, so the kids enjoyed it, although they seemed to be most excited about the slurpees afterwards! (Poor Celeste was so hot she couldn't smile - funny girl!!)

The Starlight Parade

Last night we decided to go to the Starlight parade because the weather was actually nice and warm and we knew the kids wouldn't complain, so we enjoyed the beautiful weather and great company of not only our family, but friends and strangers alike!

Playing in the street after it closes is lots of fun.

Gordon and Grandma hanging out!

Celeste and Daddy

Eddie and Daddy!

Celeste jumping roping during the breaks in the parade.

Kyle's glasses were a HUGE hit!

Our Group

Gordon fell asleep during all the noise!

Eddie watching the choo-choo trains in the parade.

Eddie got to jump rope and then got embarrassed when everyone started clappping for him!

We had a great night. We may be going to the Grand Floral Parade this coming Saturday depending on the weather, so we'll keep you posted. We'll let you know where we are sitting if we are going to make it!