Christmas Day 2010

My kids are awesome! Or maybe we are just terrible parents for letting them stay up so late on Christmas Eve. Either way, we had a great Christmas morning. I spent the first 6 years of my life as a parent waking up between 6 and 6:30 (sometimes earlier) with my kiddos. Isaac and Daphne were just early risers. It never mattered if they went to bed at 8 pm or midnight, they woke up at the same time. Sigh.
To be completely fair (both of them took nice, long afternoon naps until they were 5).
So, to have our sweet, little Victoria take after her dad and be a sleep-in kind of kid has been quite a change of pace! Of course, she's only been sleeping through the night since July, so it's not as if I've been lounging around in bed for the past 2 1/2 years, but it's definitely made a noticeable difference in my patience level! Isaac and Daphne learned how to sleep past 7 this year as well, which made Christmas morning delightful, if I do say so myself!

The kids woke up at 8, and I hopped out of bed and asked for 5 minutes to put in my contacts and ready the cameras, as they huddled at the top of the stairs excitedly exclaiming over how many more presents sat under the tree. Matt and I got all ready for our photo -ops and let them down the stairs. Isaac and Daphne ran straight to the tree, but Tori wanted only "my pretty chair and my liptstick block". If you read my last post, you know that she was using a wooden block for pretend make-up! Too cute.
She could not be lured away with shiny packages.
(Have I mentioned tha tI hate how my computer's "fix red-eye" feature sometimes gives us alien eyes? I guess that's better than red eyes, but it looks a little crazy.) Seriously. This is her face when we tried to get her to leave her "pretty chair" to open the first gift of the morning:

Since she was less-than-enthusiastic about new gifts, we let the other kids give it a go. Here is Isaac opening his entire set of books from the Diary of A Wimpy Kid series. If you have a school-aged boy, this is a great series to get them interested in reading for pleasure. As much humor as Junie B. Jones but with less obnoxious potty talk than Captain Underpants.
Pretty good balance and he has been asking for it since September. Actually, he finally got the third book from the school library the week before Christmas and I actually hid it from him! That's probably a terrible Mommy confession. I wanted him to still want the series when he opened it Christmas morning instead of being like, "Oh Yeah, I read that last week." I know. I'm a terrible person. But it worked!

My Mom bought Daphne an Easy-Bake oven, which was so. sweet. Daphne has been begging for one since her birthday this summer.

Once she saw the other kids getting new stuff, we were able to lure Tori away from her vanity to open this set of wooden paper dolls. She loved it!

Have I mentioned how much my son likes Legos? Probably one of the best toys ever invented. If he's not playing video games, he's playing with his legos and he got a ton! You remember the huge set he received from Nanny and Papa the night before, right? Well he also got some Star Wars Legos from my grandmother: and some Pirate legos from my sister, Aunt Shelli:

Then Daphne opened her big gift from Dad. I do most of the Christmas shopping, but Matt found this one for Daphne way back in September.

She's been asking for a camera for months. (Have you noticed a pattern of Daphne asking for things???) Matt found and awesome deal on this totally kid- appropriate media player. It plays music, video games, takes pictures, plays movies. Just perfect for our little soloist. She is almost always singing something, and she has a pretty great voice, if you ask her completely un-biased Mother. This is her face when she realized what it was:

We also got all of the kids their own fleecy blankets. This was two-fold in purpose. First of all, to eliminate fighting over the one soft blanket on the couch when it's time for Saturday morning cartoons. Secondly, Isaac has decided that he does not like to sleep under sheets, or a comforter or even the fuzzy velour blanket on his bed. He wants only a small, fleece camoflauge throw draped over him. We thought we would get him another one and hope that he would cover up!!! Here is Tori with her kitty blanky:

My mom got Isaac this really cool ammo holder and extra ammo for all of his crazy nurf guns.

One of our traditions is buying an engraved ornament for the children every year. Last year we got them beautifully carved wooden ornaments from Germany, and this year we went back to silver, engraved ornaments. I forgot to get pics of the actual ornaments, but here they are hanging them:

After all that, it was time for the parents to open their gifts! First, Matt opened his present from Isaac. Isaac worked so hard at scouts and built him this tool box with wood and nails! Then, he and Daphne spent about 3 hours one afternoon painting it for him. (Daphne also painted him a super cute wooden butterfly, but I didn't get a good pic.):

Then, I got to open my present from Matt. There is a sort of sad story that goes along with this gift.... Back around Thanksgiving, Matt and I both purchased Christmas gifts for eachother. This is relatively monumental since we haven't bought Christmas gifts for one another in like, I don't know... 8 years or something? Anyway, independently of one another, we each bought gifts. I mentioned to him that I was super excited about his gift and he mentioned that he had gotten me something as well. 3 or 4 days later, one of Daphne's friends knocked on the door. I was busy talking to her and her mother, who pointed out that we had received a package. THIS package:

Unfortunately, it was shipped in this box, so when I bent down to pick it up and set it inside out of the snow... the first thing I saw was the huge print: SUNBEAM Bread Maker. AAAAHHHH!! It only took me about 2 seconds to figure out that this was my Christmas present. I felt terrible. (but a little bit excited , too!)

I knew that if this happened to me (as the gift-giver) I would be irate and completely and utterly disappointed. (I'm kinda famous for over-reacting)

Sooooo. I decided to play it cool. Here's what happened when Matt came home:

Chit-Chat. "How was your day?" and kisses and all that jazz.

Then, I casually say:

"You got a package today."

"I did?" he said (equally as casually). Then he finished telling me a story and said, " Oh, yeah. Don't open that package." And with a wink, he darted into the front room.

After about 30 seconds I heard, " Oh NO!"

Matt: "Laura?"

Me: "Mmm.hmmm?"

Matt: " Did you look at it?""

I thought for a sec...

Me: " Ummm. NO. I just brought it in from the porch." (completely innocently)

Matt: " You SAW IT!"

Me: "I'm sorry, honey!! I just brought it in from the porch and it's printed so big right there on the box!"

He walked around the corner with a sheepish expression and red cheeks. :(

I felt awful.

Matt: "You were going to lie to me?"

Me: " Oh. Honey. I just didn't want to ruin your surprise."

The expected exlamations ensued. He couldn't believe that they would ship it in the labeled box and I was trying to console him and thank him at the same time.

Definitely a bummer.

So, I decided to just pretend like that didn't happen. That's healthy, right?

I tried not to even mention it. I swrapped it and put it under the tree and then I opened it and acted as excited as a kidon Christmas morning! Alright, so it's all a little contrived, but I didn't want him to feel completely cheated and I was really excited!!

(I've already made several loaves of bread and I love it!!! I put all the ingredients in the night before and we wake up to fresh, healthy warm bread in the morning! SO. AWESOME! Thanks, Matt!)

After opening the gifts from eachother, we moved on to stockings. I think it is a bad sign that we often forget about the stockings. My children are probably incredibly spoiled. Anyway, Tori had a hard time putting down the candy she found on top to move on to any of the other goodies inside!

Daphne, took the approach more closely aligned to the philosophy of instant gratification:

I would like to give a little shout-out to Matt's Auntie Val, who cross-stiched all of my children's stockings by hand. They are absolutely gorgeous and I LOVE them!!!!)

After the present-opening extravaganza, we had some deliciously yummy cinnamon rolls together. I wish I had taken pictures of that scene. My kids couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces and as we sat down to the table, Daphne was exclaiming over her loot and then stopped to look at me very seriously. "You know, Mom, it's not about what you get, it's about what Jesus gave to you!" Isaac chimed in talking about how we give gifts to eachother to remember what an amazing gift Jesus was to us.

And after that, I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face! What more could a Mom ask for on Christmas morning?

Isaac went straight up to his room and began putting together all 3, 000 of his new lego pieces.

Matt was on-call for work that weekend, so he had to go into the office for a few hours.

Daphne, Tori and I all took a nap.

Perfect.

Later that afternoon, we headed back over to the Hunters for round 2 of Christmas celebrations!

We had a second round of Christmas dinner, pie, and lots of fun games! Here are Matt and his parents:

We hope that your holiday season was a blessed and happy as ours. We had a wonderful time celebrating His birth and echo the words of Paul:

"Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift."

2 Corinthians 9:15

Christmas Eve 2010

Matt's parents always hold their Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve, which makes for a very loud, very crowded, very fun and very loving night! We love it and wouldn't miss it for the world. Marsha has the most amazing tree set-up, with the tree up on a table, surrounded by a massive ice (Styrofoam) sculpture that Calvin carved a few years ago. Along the nooks and crannies of the ice sculpture are little houses and people from the Thomas Kinkade Christmas village. To top the whole thing off, there is an electric train that runs around the bottom, through tunnels and caves of ice!! So beautiful and fun!

Here are Tori and her cousins, Lydia and Abby: Daphne wanted she and Tori to wear their Christmas dresses, and being the frilly girl that I am I agreed, but we made sure to bring comfy clothes too!
Tori and Daddy:

After a magnificent dinner, we all settled in downstairs for a Christmas program, which included lots of things, one of which was Daphne and Isaac singing "Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus"

They were a little nervous, they had been practicing it perfectly at home. It wasn't quite what it had been in the privacy of our own home, but it was so sweet and everyone loved it!

After that, Raegan helped the kids put together a mini little Christmas pageant. Isaac wanted to be the donkey and Daphne wanted to be Mary. Abby and Lydi were sweet to let her do that! Abby was an angel and Tori was going to be an angel too. Lydi was a wise man, and then Tori wanted to be a wise man, too. Corbin and Zach were shepherds and just as we were starting, Tori was ripping off her costume. She wanted to be the Baby Jesus. Raegan was super- sweet and let her step in even though we were going to have Penny be the baby Jesus.
Here is everyone "backstage" waiting for their entrance:

We read the story from Luke 2 and as Sydney read the words, " And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.", Tori walked in from "back stage" and said, "I'm Baby Jesus"

Here is Lydia, our lone wiseman:

Austin played Joseph... here they are waiting for the Shepherds:

And after all that jazz, it was time for presents! We open one at a time in the Hunter family... notice everyone waiting anxiously for their turns.

Here is Daphne receiving her long-desired American Girl Doll, Molly:. Daphne has been begging for one since September and has carried the catalog around with her, changing her mind on her favorite every day or so. Finally, a few weeks before Christmas I told her she needed to choose her very favorite one. After a few hours, she still couldn't pick. So, I asked her to narrow it down to a few. After another half hour, she brought me a painstakingly written list of 6 dolls. Finally, I just picked Molly for her. Molly always seemed to make the top 3, so I figured we were safe!

Tori, opening her great big box (It's a wooden vanity- she's super into lip gloss right now!)

Tori's gift opening was a little anti-climactic because I didn't think to have Matt go over and put the present together ahead of time. Poor Marsha and Calvin have so much to do and so many presents to get ready and I didn't even think about it. Anyway, Tori was more interested in the empty boxes lying around:

Isaac had been talking about these Lego sets that have knights and warriors, etc... so Nanny and Papa got him a huge set of Knights and a castle to build, with a bunch of extra boxes of knights for reinforcement:

And here he is, running over to hug his Nanny and say thanks....

So, for part of Marsha and Calvin's gift, we gave them a personalized photo book called "My Family Proclamation". It is so gorgeous!! I made it at My LDS Memories

and I highly recommend their website. It was so easy to use and the book is just gorgeous. It basically gives you a format and you click and drag pictures into the given slots. The pictures are framed with the words to "The Family: A Proclamation to the World"

It is so beautiful and meaningful and I think Marsha and Calvin loved it!

We had a fantastic time- we came home ready for bed, but Tori was having a hard time leaving Daphne's doll alone, so Matt went ahead and put together her vanity that night:

She LOVED it!!

She didn't have any makeup... (that would come in her stocking in the morning) so she grabbed a wooden block and pretended that it was her lipstick. It was so adorable!! She just kept sitting down, opening the drawer, rubbing the block across her mouth, and then she would walk away and start the whole thing over again!

After we finished our "Countdown to Christmas" ( I didn't have time to blog about it- but we read a few verses of the Christmas story every night and sang a Christmas song together) we said our prayers and tucked their little excited and exhausted bodies into bed. And then we went to work! I was much more efficient this year, and I had gradually wrapped presents as I went through the month of December, so I had to add ribbons to a few, stuff stockings and move everything out of their hiding spots and up to the Christmas tree:

And then we went to bed! I'll post Christmas Day pics as soon as possible, but I hope you had a Christmas Eve that was just as lovey, warm, and filled with family and faith! Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Christmas Lights!!

This is probably the warmest Christmas we have had in 4 years around here. I think we were up into the 50s on Christmas day. No Snow.
Despite that fact, this is the first year we haven't braved the cold to go walk through the Christmas lights. We were big scrooges and made the kids stay in the car.
We still had fun:

Christmas pics coming soon!!!

A Thanksgiving Visit from GiGi

My mom, aka GiGi, came to visit with us over Thanksgiving break. The weather-men had forecasted a literal blizzard for the Wasatch front on the Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving. (I have not ever heard of people forecasting an actual blizzard in all my ten years here) Apparently, there has to be just the right combination of winds, temps and snow to make a blizzard and it sounded like we were in for a real storm! Snow doesn't halt the progress of anything around here, and they even closed our school in preparation of the storm. Everyone was rushing the stores to stock up on water and essentials. I sent Matt to the store just as the storm was beginning to pick up some medicine and a few candles to supplement our 72 hour kit. We were havin grecord low temps for the month of November... it was in the teens and twenties most of the weekend. (That's common here around January, but not November!!)
Well, we did see a storm... but it fizzled out after about three hours with not much to show for it. The whole thing was rather anti-climactic.
But the best part of the storm that flopped was that my Mom made it on an earlier flight and got to spend an extra evening with us!!
Here she is with the crew on the day she left: For the first few days of the visit, Isaac had a fever and headache that also gradually fizzled out, thank goodness! ( I can't believe I forgot to list that on my previous post!)

Since he wasn't quite himself, just the girls and I went out Thanksgiving morning for a little fun in the snow!

Here they are making snow angels:

Thanks for coming, Mom! We had a blast and Tori still asks when you are coming back to "Tohwi's house". We love you and are glad you survived another snowy visit!

The Terrors and The Triumphs

This is a truly random post. It's sort of a compilation of all the things that have been happening in our house the past couple of months or so. (That's just what happens when you get 2 full months behind on your blog) As I was thinking of a way to write about these experiences... it occurred to me that sometimes you just can't "spin" it and sugar-coat it into the "We're A Happy Little Family" Image that one usually attempts to attain on a blog. So I thought we'd be more honest.
We are a Happy Family. But that does't mean that we're always happy. At the end of the day, though, we are committed to one another and to encouraging one another along in our walk with Christ.

Over the past two months, the following events have all occurred in our very real family:

• Daphne began gymnastics, which she actually enjoyed! (unlike dance or soccer)




• Daphne had a peanut exposure at a friend's house (right under my nose). And the Parenting Award of the Year goes to.... (drumroll, please) NOT me.




• The aforementioned peanut exposure manifested in a drugged-up Daphne projectile vomiting off the top bunk of her bed and sleeping through all of it.




• Which means Matt and I scrubbed dripping barf off of literally every surface in the girls' bedroom.




• On the bright side, we got the carpets cleaned after this terrible occurrance.

I decided to post pics of the gymnastics but not of the vomiting. You're welcome.

• 
  

Isaac became a MONSTER on the basketball court... he smoked it, y'all! We are just gonna keep on working on those skills and secure our retirement plan.

(Note that he is a good foot taller than everyone else)
Isaac's friend Dusty got baptized (Yay!):

• Tori started saying "yellow" instead of "lellow" , which sent me into tears. It's all going sooo fast. She also started saying a myriad of other things, including complete sentences like:

"I love you, Mommy"

"I want a back-pack" (she meant vitamin- but I figured it out. just call me Sherlock)

She also mastered this all-important phrase: "I want a Halloweeeeeen Treat. .....Please."

and just doing all-around adorably two-year old things:

• Isaac and Daphne brought home magnificent report cards!!! Yay!



• Through the month of November, at least one of our 3 bathrooms got cleaned each week. But that's about it.



• Daphne got strep throat.



• I got sick- sending our already neglected housework spiraling into complete disarray.



• As I sit here typing this, Victoria is watching Sesame Street on the couch and recovering from a night of vomiting.- She literally threw up every 15 minutes for 3 hours through the night. I had to hold up her head so she could throw up because she was so weak. Saddest. Thing. Ever.



• Also as I sit here, 4 loads of clean laundry sit on my couch waiting to be folded, the sink is full of dirty dishes, all 3 bathrooms need to be cleaned and 12 parent teacher conference are waiting to be prepared. Sigh.

(actually those last two were only true about a month ago (thank goodness) I got caught up on housework but not on the blog!)

Well, I didn't want to intentionally document the messy house, so here is the messy table behind a very messy Tori:
>

• My Mom came for a visit!! Yay!



• Tori mastered putting on her coat and pants herself!



• Isaac's teacher asked, "What is it like to have the perfect son?" Seriously.

• I started receiving love notes and not-so love notes from Daphne.

Let me explain:

I remember several years ago watching an episode of Oprah where several women came on and spoke of how difficult motherhood is. Their big message was, "Someone should warn you about this." I recall being annoyed at their perception of motherhood. At the time I was a happy, naive mother of one, which (according to Bill Cosby) isn't really parenthood at all. I did not yet know how difficult it could be. Isaac was a sweet and happy baby. No, he wasn't perfect and he had normal challenges: rough nights, messy diapers, grocery store temper tantrums. But I will be honest about this: I had no idea how difficult parenthood could be until our precious Daphne Faith came screaming into our lives. I always joke that her birth should have been an indicator of her future temperament: she was almost born in an ambulance, 2 hours after my first contraction and seven minutes after walking in the door at the hospital. She came out so fast she was blue.

And then came Victoria: our entertainer- so reasonable and so loving. She has completed our family in the greatest way. She also came with her challenges- her own little personality and temperament. By then we'd let the children outnumber the parents and you know that means trouble.

Daphne is the most magnificent, brilliant, expressive and talented girl. I adore her. I would not change her for a moment. Regardless of those facts, she is still my most challenging child. She questions everything. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. On the one hand, that is wonderful. She will not ride through life on the coat-tails of my testimony- she will figure things out for herself. But that also seems to mean always watching her make mistakes for her own even when I can see the outcome so clearly. She just HAS to do it herself.

Around the last week of October, she began this regression to her three and four year old temper tantrums. If things didn't go her way, if she was re-directed or corrected in any way, her reaction was explosive. This reminded me much of her younger years and really is just 'Daphne'. But this time, the tantrums have been laced with " You don't love me. Nobody likes me!!!" followed by running away screaming, slamming doors and/or throwing herself onto the ground. Now, one might actually laugh at these declarations at first. But after the 50th exclamation of the week, it started to hurt my spirit. Honestly, every single thing I do as mom is for their good, and no matter the outcome of their lives, I could never live with the thought that one of my children would think that I do not love them.

It would torment my soul to no end.

Do I parent perfectly? No.

Do I make a million mistakes? Yes.

Can they blame me for some of their idiosyncrasies and self-doubt? I'm sure.

But do I love them? Did I give every ounce of all I had for them and their benefit? Would I put down my project if they needed me? Would I throw myself in front of a train to protect them?

Absolutely.

I hope and pray that their answers to those questions would be yes every time.

So when this trend of Daphne's persisted into November, my heart became weary. I pray every night that they will know they are loved. I tried to talk to her about how I love her- that I don't like her choices sometimes and that sometimes I even get frustrated when she disobeys, but I love her forever and ever no matter what. (which is one more reason that this is all a little surprising- "I love you forever and ever no matter what" is our little mantra. I say it to her at least once a day and usually every night when I kiss her goodnight.)

So on one particularly difficult day, they all came home from school right when Tori woke up from nap and everyone needed attention all at once (as usual). I had a long and emotionally draining day in my classroom and just knew if I could get out and go for a run I would feel better. I had tried to prep dinner early so that we could all go for a walk to the park and enjoy the last nice Fall day. So, when they came in, I explained my plan at which point my usually easy Isaac started whining, " I don't want to go to the park" (which is actually code for: "If we go to the park after homework I won't have time to play video games before dinner- but he would never say that because he knows how I feel about video games.) So, because of his displeasure, he decided to make his twenty minutes of homework take 1 1/2 hours, cutting drastically into our outdoor time. Tori , of course, was running around coloring on things and Daphne was doing her reading and complaining about dinner and asking me to do 800 things when I was trying to cut veggies and read to Tori and help Isaac. And then, just about the time she turned around to talk to Isaac, I picked up Tori's sippy cup and put the lid back on so that she wouldn't spill. Daphne turned around and for some reason decided that I had taken some of her chocolate milk and put it into Tori's cup. (which did not happen). No matter what I said, she didn't believe me. And then she handed me a note that said,

"Dear Mom,

I love you and you

do NOT love me.

Daphne"

And then, tears started pouring down my face. I just couldn't help it. Even though she's a six year old drama queen who blows everything out of proportion (wherever could she have acquired that trait?), after the 999th temper tantrum that week, it started to hurt my feelings.

I decided that I was failing as a mother and getting fat and that I couldn't keep my house clean and I was ruining my children's lives and mine all in one little split-second (Thanks for that, satan. ick- Go AWAY) And I just went downstairs to have a good cry and let go of my dreams of a cathartic run through the gorgeous Fall leaves.

Fortunately, my amazing husband and (knight in shining armor) came home early and fed the kids dinner while I went for a 40 minute run. (which was tearful and exquisite all at the same time. It's amazing how much faster and longer you run without a double jogging stroller filled with a 6 year old and a 2 year old)

So that night, I decided to write the big kids letters. I wrote to both of them, telling them all the things I like about them and all the choices they had made that pleased me and all the reasons that I was proud of them. And at the end I said, " But I love you because you are my child. I love you when you make bad choices and I love you when you make good choices. I love you because God sent you to me and you are mine. And I will always love you no matter what."

Then next morning, I had to leave for school very early and left their notes by their plates full of pancakes. I kissed their sleepy heads and took Tori to school with me. And when I returned at 1 pm, I found a note from Daphne that said this:

"Dear Mom,

I love you.

I will stop Screemeeng. I will stop Fiting.

You are the best mom.

I love you.

Daphne"

It didn't all get better right away. In fact, we were still struggling with a little of these behaviors over Thanksgiving break while my Mom was visiting, so she can bear witness to the emotional toll it was taking on all of us. But even that was just a fraction of what early November had been.

And now, after many prayers and blessings from God, we are back to just our regular level of drama. No- it's not always pretty and there are still temper tantrums. But we are bearing it, through the grace of God. He is truly our shelter form the storm. Whether the storm rages outside our door or inside our hearts, He will calm His child.

I love all three of them. I LOVE being their mother. Most days are really the greatest joyful moments of chaos and hugs and kisses all rolled into one big beautiful mess. It's our life and every moment is on loan from Him. I thank Him and I praise Him for each one of these terrors and triumphs because I know they are His way of teaching us and guiding us and sealing us together in HIM.

"... my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Ether 12:27

"Do not nag yourself with a sense of failure. Get on your knees and ask for the blessings of the Lord ; then stand on your feet and do what you are asked to do. Then leave the matter in the hands of the Lord. You will discover that you have accomplished something beyond price." Gordon B. Hinckley


I know that He is taking my humble efforts as a Mom and turning them into something more than I could ever do on my own. I know that He is speaking His truth to their hearts and I pray every day that their ears and their hearts will be open to His Word.

What We've Been Up To...

What have the Hunters been up to since Halloween, anyway??

We've been making PRETZELS!!

Okay, not the whole time, but we did have a magnificently fun -filled evening making these delicious homemade whole-wheat pretzels.

They were super-delicious and fun to make!

( I know that is a rather anti-climactic update after a 2 month hiatus, but I recommend you just take what you can get from me these days!)