Eight

Happy Number Eight Suzie!

The baby turns eight today. This is the first time Suzie's b-day has fallen on a school day so we had to rush through things a bit this morning. Suz didn't seem to mind.

Yes, she is wearing different pajamas here. She was actually ready for school. Her Christmas party at school involves wearing pajamas all day so she still gets to spend her B-day in her jammies.

If you're keeping score...

We had our first casualty of the season a couple of days ago. Suzie landed on a piece of ice at her friends house and did a faceplant on the sidewalk. No permanent damage but you wouldn't believe it by looking. The poor baby has been home from school being spoiled and waiting for the swelling to go down. She didn't want pictures at first but then decided Grandma and Grandpa should see. Of course, the first thing Mom said after that was "and we should scrapbook it!" So, if you're keeping track, ICE-1 and SUZIE-0.

The first day

And of course, the requisite scraped knee.

Day number 2

Halloween

Party and Trick or Treating at Aunt Shelley's. Her neighborhood nets a better chocolate to crappy candy ratio. Turner declared it an even better Halloween than last year. High praise indeed!

Obviously, Tim and I went as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

Thomas abandoned his costume in favor of the contents of Uncle Todd's bag o' wigs

The Motley Crew, in all their Halloween finery.

Grandma

Today is Grandma Mamie's Birthday. I had more to say but it will have to wait for another time. Everytime I try to write, I just start to cry. I put up a few of my favorite pictures from her last couple of visits here. Man, I sure do miss that crazy old woman.

Back to the grind

We managed to make it through the first few days of school intact. These pics are from the first day. You should find it pretty easy to figure out what grade everyone is starting. We're getting ourselves back into the daily grind but at 6:00 in the morning, none of us are happy about it. Turner is enjoying Jr. High but the true test will be what she has to say about it by Christmas. We're crossing our fingers. Thomas is still working out the kinks of being in a big new school on top of figuring out the world of being in a GT class. Alot of his classmates went to that school last year, so the learning curve is a little steeper for him but as long as he gets his lunch, he'll get the hang of it. For the first time Sam is dealing with a teacher that none of his siblings had before him. She is new to our little school last year and isn't quite as easy to charm as his last teachers. I guess not charming his way into and out of things is what Sam gets to figure out this year. Since Suzie's teacher has had everyone else in the family for 2nd grade, she thinks she has it down already. Of course it helps that she is a busy little bee just like her sister and would rather die than do something the wrong way but you know...

Happy Birthday Boys

We have been having technical difficulties here at the Hunt residence. It took me until today to upload birthday photos of Thomas-and his birthday was on Monday. So, since today is Tim's birthday, I decided to put up one of him too and the boys will just have to share this one.

Officially Eleven!

My new favorite picture of Tim. Technically still 36 here. I guess we'll have to take another one of his totally different 37 year old face.

Can you guess what Thomas picked for his birthday breakfast?

Sammy turns nine.

Just wanted to share a few pics from Sam's ninth birthday.

I took this picture right after Sam finished opening his presents. From the looks of it, he got a few things he was happy with.

Sam chose a movie for his fun birthday activity. This picture was taken outside of the theater before we met Aunt Shelley, Uncle Todd and Courtney inside. Three guesses as to which movie we saw.

Turner and Thomas were still in Cali for Sam's birthday. He insisted on waiting for them to get home before we blew out the candles on his Transformer Optimus Prime cake so, we made it for the 24th of July BBQ and he got to stretch his B-Day out for a week.

Twelve!

Happy 12th Birthday Turner!

Showing off her new favorite socks. A birthday gift from Cousin Rachel.

Pretty much the look I get at least once a day.

One of my favorite pictures. This kid is fun to have around.

We love you Miss Priss!

Sorry that we haven't been very up on the blog lately. The end of school put us in the weeds but we're working our way out. I have put up a few of the pics from the dance festival that the kids put on at the end of school every year.

Sam, looking thrilled to have me take yet another picture.

Suzie and one of her best buddies, Kelli Ann. Three guesses as to the theme of their dance.

Thomas looking cool in his shades. After I took this picture, I realized that this was his last dance festival at our little school. So I took 2 more pictures of course.

Easter

I was downloading pics from Turner's camera and found these. They're from Easter when my mom and the girls came out to eat and hang out. I thought she did a pretty good job with 'em.


I put this up because I love this picture of Tim. It pretty much sums him up don't you think? Plus, this was the only one with Grandma Jean looking at the camera.

Thomas, Sam, Brianna,Suzie and Nattie

The studio pose of course.

I couldn't help myself

I couldn't resist sharing these. How stinkin' cute is Suziebell here with her new haircut. I definitely think she was made to wear a bob! I took these pictures because she actually let me half-way blow it dry today. A miracle!

He did it.

Mr. Man here (doing his best to look thoughtful in his Edgar Allen Poe garb at the 4th grade wax museum) just recieved his acceptance letter to be in the same accelerated classes that Turner has been toiling in for the last two years. We had our doubts as to whether he would be up to the challenge last year but the kid pulled it together and got it done when it counted. Congratulations T.D.! We are proud of you!

Another Four Eyes

We added another four eyes to the family this week. Here is Sam in his new glasses. I suppose it was inevitable since I and 5 out of my six siblings wear glasses but I had hopes that the kids would inherit Tim's eyes. Even when Turner got glasses a few years ago I kept the hope alive for the other kids. Now I guess it's 2 down and 2 to go. It's good he looks so cute in 'em. Now we'll see if they're actually still intact by the end of the week! Fingers crossed!

If you're wondering what the terrible two's look like...

Last week, I spent a couple of days at my mom's (hopefully) helping my sister with her new baby. While I was there, I shot these pics of her 2 year old, Taela right after she had chomped her older brother's arm and (of course) gotten in trouble for it.

This is how it went-
Taela: Boo hoo hoo
Me: starting to laugh and grabbing my camera

Taela: Boo hoo
Me: Taela-look at Aunt Shauna!

Me: Laughing harder now-Come on Taela! Look at Auntie Shauna!

Taela: NO!

Oh, it's so hard giving up being the baby. I'm sure I was even more fun than this when I was two years old and Taela's Mom knocked me off of my throne.

Proud

We are very proud of little missy here. She managed to get herself into an accelerated learning class last year and this year. Now we just got news that she has tested into the same accelerated classes next year at the Jr. High. They have to compete with all of the other accelerated students in other schools that feed into the same Jr. High so there is a decent amount of competition. She (this pic is from the first day of school) is proof that hard work really does pay off. She has worked REALLY hard and we are proud of her!

Friendly

Created under pressure from the powers that be (and Dick Cheney)- here is a more family/normal person friendly blog to keep you kind of updated on what goes on around these here parts. Check out this picture of the kiddies dressed in their Chinatown finery from Aunt Leah. The reason they all look so happy is that this was taken before we had the last round of the gomboo blow through. Hope your New Year is starting off with a little less need for Tylenol than ours!