Halloween playgroup!

We had a Halloween dress up playgroup tonight! What a cute bunch of 8 month olds! Here are some pictures:

Shaun the pumpkin!

Shaun, Kirin and Nadia

Mady the fish

1st annual trip to the pumpkin patch!

We started one of many new traditions in our family today! We went to the pumpkin patch at Craven Farms in Snohomish. It is nice to have one (ok many) right down the hill in the Snohomish valley. This one is geared towards young children with a lot of things to play on, a petting zoo, hay ride, corn maze, face painting and of coarse the pumpkin patch! It was good to have nice weather today and the days leading up to today so it wasn't muddy (looks like it could be if it has been wet). Here are a few pictures from today. I'll post more at the end of the month in the October pictures.

The "Army" Crawl!

Shaun has learned to do the army crawl!

2nd Annual Applesauce Making Party!

Last year, my sister, cousin and I decided to carry on the tradition of making applesauce that my Grandma did every year when she had apples. I have two apple trees in my yard and the three of us were craving Grandma's applesauce that we hadn't had in 6+ years, so we said, "Why don't we make it"? We went to my Grandma and asked her for the recipe, (which she gathered from memory) and we were off! My two trees produce enough good apples for about one batch so we bought some more so we could have a lot of applesauce! This year we did it again and carried on our part of the tradition! This year we even had a food mill to mash the apples. Last year we had to literally mash them ourselves which took a lot more manual labor. We were all so excited to have the food mill after seeing how much easier it was! Thank you Mom and Dad for the present! Shaun even got in on some of the action! Here are a few of the pictures from yesterday! We made a lot of applesauce!!!

Apples ready to be made into applesauce!

Cutting up some of the apples!

Apples cooking!

The food mill!

Taste testing the flavoring!

One batch of applesauce! We made 3!

September!

Today is Bill’s Birthday!!! It is kind of neat having back to back birthdays. We are the same age on my birthday only, since he is a year older. Now, back to September..

Shaun has continued trying new foods. He has tried a bunch more foods and likes them all! He gobbles food right up. He has a good appetite!

Shaun has started exhibiting signs of separation anxiety. For the past several weeks he has not lasted in the nursery at church. We started putting him in the nursery when he was 3 months old and we never got called until the beginning of this month when he was just about 7 months. Anybody have any suggestions on how to get through this quickly???

Shaun also got his first major cold. He had a small one back in May/June, but this one was probably the real thing. Luckily there was no fever, just a lot of sneezing and some coughing. He sure doesn’t like his nose wiped! Bill caught it too, but was over it fairly quickly, and I somehow only got a scratchy throat for a couple of days! But everyone has been healthy now for a couple of weeks.

Bill went to Rhode Island for their annual legal conference for 4 days for his navy weekend. It was a long 4 days for him. He left home at 3am on Thursday morning and got home at 12:30am Monday morning!

Shaun isn’t crawling yet, but he is getting really mobile! When he is sitting, he goes forward like he would start crawling, but instead kind of rolls to the side. He then starts rolling and rolling to move across the room. I think we need to shop for some gates! He also puts his arms up to get picked up and smiles and giggles a lot! Bill especially loves the big smile he gets when Shaun gets up in the morning. Shaun also loves playing with Abby. Bill holds Shaun and they chase Abby around playing with a ball and Shaun laughs extremely hard! It is hilarious! We haven’t heard him laugh so hard ever or about anything else except Abby! Shaun & Abby even started playing with each other by themselves. Abby will try and egg Shaun on by bringing a toy to him and acting excited like she does and Shaun reaches out and they both have fun! They are buds!

Shaun also has a third tooth! We noticed it on the 24th. It is on the bottom also, next to his two front ones. So far he has 3 bottom teeth! The days after we noticed the third tooth was tough on Shaun. I think the teeth were bothering him, so he wasn’t feeling all that well. He had a couple of rough nights.

Bill started fall quarter last week. He goes to class for a couple of hours on Monday and Wednesdays. Two more classes to go and he has his Bachelor’s degree (one class this quarter and one class winter quarter)!

Golden Birthday!

Today is my birthday! I’ll just say that it is my golden birthday and that I am no longer a “20 something”! What is the old saying that my parent’s generation said when they were in their teens and 20s? “Never trust anyone older than 30…” MMMmmm…..

I feel old when:

I think of something that happened in the early or mid 1990’s and realize that it was 13-18 years ago. I feel old or not so new in the adult world anymore!!! A decade ago, I didn’t remember too much that happened that length of time ago!
Or, when my sister’s students were born in my second year of college, 4th graders!
Or, when my 10 year high school reunion was last year.
Or, that I have been married, graduated college and at my job for 7+ years!
Or, when my good friend, Carrie’s oldest child will be in Kindergarten next year!


Some lasting memories so far in my life:

1. Falling off my bike and knocking my permanent front teeth out when I was 10.
2. Going on many family vacations while growing up, like Disneyland, Grand Canyon, Reno, Vegas, Salt Lake, Yellowstone, Hawaii, DC, and NY.
3. Graduating from high school in 1997.
4. Going off to college in 1997.
5. Meeting my future hubby in 1998.
6. Graduating from WWU in 2001. Go Vikings! Boo Wildcats! (The annual battle in Seattle is coming up between Western & Central, Bill’s school!) Yes, there is a rivalry in the Hunter household! Which will Shaun choose……?
7. Starting my career in 2001.
8. Marrying my best friend in 2001.
9. Finding a gray hair in 2006!
10. Finally getting pregnant in 2007.
11. Saying goodbye to one Grandpa in 2007 and the other a few weeks ago.
12. Giving birth to my son in February.
13. Being a mom so far for 7 ½ months!
14. Turning 30!

Go See Fireproof!

We saw Fireproof on Friday night. Go see it! It is worth the big bucks that tickets cost these days. We don't usually go to movies more than a couple of times a year, but we made an exception and went and saw another to support Christian movies and we are glad we did!

Anyone who is married, going to be married or wants to be married someday should see it! See one of my previous blogs for the trailer. Make the time and go on a date, it is worth it! Tip: bring a tissue or two! (Don't worry, it is really a happy movie in the end!)