Our little spitfire...

Today Amelia was repeatedly asking for Cheerios. I told her no because we had just eaten not long before. She went in to use the bathroom and from the kitchen I heard her yell, " If you don't fix me some lunch I'm gonna go shoot an animal and eat it!" "What did you just say?" I asked. Again, clear as a bell she yelled, " If you don't fix me some lunch I'm gonna go shoot an animal and eat it!" Oh, she makes me laugh!!!

This from a girl who lives in a home with no real nor toy weapons, who has never seen a movie with a gun used in it! We have talked about what guns are used for after she saw some friend's toy guns and that lovely machine gun on an arcade game she walked by and Pa's gun in our Little House books. The latter is where today's comment originated from I think.

Anyway, just want to keep track of some of the things they say:) Like today Sam said that he was going "to drive the Kinney's burben to old McDonalds and then go to the tool store.":) A little guy after his grandpas' own hearts-his Papa Joel works at a "tool store" and Grandpa Jim can build just about anything! (Ahem, how does he know what Old McDonalds is?! Okay, okay it's my fault--I just can't resist their playground sometimes on snowy, blustery mornings! I know this grieves Joel's heart that our children can identify both Taco Bell and McDonalds. Oh, and Chick Fil-A. Maybe Starbucks. I better stop now. Love you Joelie! Trying to get better in that arena, I promise! )

All for now,

Jenny

(p.s. Do I at least get some points that they have no idea what a Happy Meal is? Come on now!)

She'll be comin round the mountain when she comes...

You heard me right in my last post, my mama is moving in with us!! I can hardly believe it myself.

She's ready for a fresh start and we are thrilled for her to have one here with us! It's a bittersweet thing for her, of course, leaving so many beloved ones in Texas, but everyone is cheering her on (though often through tears I imagine)! It won't be a forever thing...Texas is where her heart is, but we are planning on a few years!

I look so forward to lots of giggles, tabouli, gardening, long walks, mama kitty, oh gosh....just on and on.

Joel and his dad are driving her stuff and car up here and will be here by Sunday! Crazy, huh? Life is about to change here in the Hunt house, and the outlook is very sparkly indeed. We're ready and waiting for you Mammy!
Jen

Box Play!

I was inspired by Teacher Tom's post (as I always am when I read his blog!) about boxes. So today, as Joel is out of town again (though this time he is coming back with the best gift of all--my mom! She's moving in! More on that soon:) I knew some fun was needed to be had by all. I wanted a strong day to start off our series of days with no daddy time in the evening.

In the end it was great! We went for a walk (scoot) around the block and then played with our friends at their house for the morning (boy I love friends!), had a yummy ice cream treat (I promise they didn't eat all of that ice cream...half of each is saved in our freezer:), and then home for rest time and PLAY!



I got out all of the boxes from the garage--hello Amazon!--and we colored them first and then I pulled them down the stairs in the boxes to the basement to shouts of "This is crazy! AHHHHH!" :) First the boxes were trains. Amelia was going on a journey "to Bethlehem, but Mary said she couldn't stay because the stable was closed." Haha. Sam was going to the Dinosaur Museum but he had to exit his train and take a ship to get there.
Then the boxes became a stable for Amelia to rest in because she didn't feel well. Sam made all kind of concoctions to help her feel better--mostly shark and fish soup--but alas, his patient was not very eager to feel better and stayed in the stable for quite a while.
Then the boxes were tunnels for their trucks. Oh, I must mention that yesterday while playing with their trucks I overheard Sam say to Amelia, " Don't worry. My driver texted the garage and they have more garbage cans there!" Oh my.





Anyway, all this to say, once again I was convinced about the power of playing with my children! For bonding, learning, creating, imagining, building, energizing, making days more than just "getting through."

Do I have the magic formula for allowing time for getting on the floor to play while making sure the house is tidy and dinner is made? Um, no. Working on it as ever, but no. We drank green smoothies and ate lunch meat and carrots for dinner--ha! It's okay, though, it was worth it to me for sure.
Jen

More signs of the season...

Sammy was pretty proud of this igloo he and Joelie made. Amelia's contribution was bringing her umbrella out to "keep the igloo from melting:)"
It does all of us so much good to bundle up and get outside each day (even if the prep and aftermath are no fun at all!)
I let them eat a sugar cookie before breakfast one morning. They were very, very excited:)

We went to "A Candlelit Christmas" at This is The Place this year. It was really fun, peaceful, and so neat to see a live nativity with them. A great thing was that we saw some friends leaving as we were arriving and they got us in free with their membership--thanks friends!!!



Another thing we have been loving is watching birds eating from our new bird feeders! They are coming by the droves. One of my new years resolutions is going to be to learn the names and songs of our bird friends (as well as flowers, plants, trees, and bugs--it's going to be a busy year! Haha).

I think I'll end here. Christmas pictures coming soon. It was a pretty simple, special day! Jen

Preschool Winter Performance...

This is mostly for our far away family who I know wanted to be at Sam and Amelia's special performance, but anyone is welcome to watch of course! We really do love their little Creative Arts Preschool, and how they are all given the opportunity to soar in their own way:) Here ya go..sorry for the poor filming, it was on our phone:/
Jen

Moments.

This morning as they ran around the house finding "acorns" for all of their little stuffed animals, I may have gotten a little teary thinking about when they will move on to more "sophisticated" toys. May the day be far away that they lose interest in the world of their beloved animals. It fills me up to the brim to watch their imaginations in action. Really, truly.

As we were about to head out the door to go on our daily walk around the block (no matter the weather, I have to keep reminding myself we MUST get outside. Daily. No excuses:) I checked the mail and found a letter for them from their friend Vera. They were SO excited and clutched their letters during our entire morning running errands:)


Our two very important errands today included going to eat pizza and shop at the thrift store:) Our life is so harried! Haha.
We went to our favorite (gross/good) pizza place that has a fireplace (ahhh), kids eat free, they have those little IQ games with pegs that S and A love to play with...it's just great. They also have terrible arcade games on the way to the bathroom where Amelia learned the lovely word "shotgun" while walking past...Hmmm, I guess no place can be perfect! Anyway, while we were eating I had given them some pizza with meat on it and Amelia said, "I don't want this kind. I want what you're eating." So I said, "Well, Amelia you know what? My pizza had meat on it too but I just took it off!" She said, "CLEVER, mom!" as if I was the smartest person in the world.

Then in was onto the thrift store to gather some more Christmas goodies for the cousins. I may not be a handmade Christmas mama, as in you will find no felted manger scenes in our home nor will I be sending knitted sweaters and gloves to my nieces or nephew (I wish!), but this Auntie can thrift some pretty wonderful books and find some wooden cars for my kids to paint for one of their sweet cousins, if I do say so myself:) Love what you are, right?!

Anywho, while busily painting Sammy says to Amelia: " This will be brilliant Mena." She answered, "Yes it will Sammy." Oh, I loved it. Then Amelia proceeded to make one of her enormous messes in a way that you would just have to see to believe and then Sam drank a big gulp of the yellow watercolor paint thinking it was Orange Juice. Oh my. Everyone was okay and we have two very thoroughly painted vehicles.


A bit later I was in the kitchen making dinner with two whiny, tired kids sitting at the bar waiting not so patiently to eat. I was sighing some heavy sighs and thinking, "Even the good days are long." Then, wouldn't you know it? We were listening to Elizabeth Mitchell and "So glad I'm here" came on, and reminded me once again that even in the whiny moments, I'm so glad to be a mama and to spend my days with my children. It gave me the boost I needed to rise above the moment (added with two good recent conversations with Anne and Tara about showing true, Jesus love to our children), finish dinner, give baths, read lots of bedtime books, and tuck them in bed.

Here I am now. Tired, but good. Sharing some of our moments with you.

All for now, Jen

Oh, P.S. I forgot about listening to the Johnny Cash Christmas album in the car. You know how kids get hooked on a song and want to listen to it 4 million times? Well, today it was Hark the Herald Angles Sing. I have to say it was pretty amazing truly listening to it while driving through the snowy, whiteness. " God and sinners reconciled!" Amazing and hopeful and what I want Sam and Amelia to understand about Christmas. Why was "baby Jesus" born? So that God and sinners could be reconciled. Joyful, all ye nations rise!

Joel says hello to San Francisco.

He went for a mandatory conference for his federal loan repayment contract but ended up having quite a bit of time to explore--aren't the pictures amazing?! Next time, we are ALL going (we would have if we knew what the schedule would be like). All for now, Jen

But the fire is so delightful....

So, we don't actually have a fire place, but there are other fun things to do while the snow swirls or the day is overcast and you really. really. really. really. miss. the. sun. Oh, where was I? Oh yes, fun things to do when the weather is frightful. Here are some of the best moments of our days lately:

This was one morning during Thanksgiving break. Ahhhh, we loved having Joel with us for almost four full days.

The aquarium. Oh how our Sammy loves that place!
Paint! Play-doh! Coloring!
Reading grandma stories on face time. He set the phone up all by himself and we found him there reading to her. Technology at it's finest!
Singing Christmas carols and reading Christmas stories. This thrifted Tomie dePaola book is my favorite find of late:)

Baking gingerbread men was fun, as was seeing their little faces when they saw the tree lit up for the first time:)



Even during festive times of the year, though, and all of the magical moments they bring, Sam and Amelia mostly just want to play and keep our normal rhythm. I have to remember to just keep it simple, they really don't need or want a lot of hooplah. Like this morning. I had planned for us to go to a little Mom's group Christmas brunch, but Sammy came upstairs with tears in his eyes just wanting to stay home and play trains. That little guy is always trying to get us to stay home so he can play, poor buddy:/ So, today I said yes. Yes, Sammy, let's just stay home and play trains (sorry to the girls at Mom to Mom! I missed you guys!). Here they are doing what they do most of our days, talking with their animals, talking with trains, setting up nests, etc.:

All for now. I need to catch up on some housework while the babes nap! Jen

Sam, Amelia and Vera at the library.

How adorable was this moment? Jen