Jason Loses His First Teeth

Jason lost his first tooth December 26, 2014. The next tooth fell out two weeks later, so now he can stick his tongue through the bottom center gap. Although Jason was anxious to lose his first tooth, he was not willing to yank it out. It fell out onto his lap when it was good and ready. Same with the second. Grandma Diane gave Jason a special tooth-fairy pillow with a velcro pocket to put next to his bed. Jason feels so grown up now that he has lost some teeth (and earned a dollar per tooth).

Christmas 2014

Christmas Eve started off with Jason's first day skiing! He was a really good sport. I took him to the free Alta tow ropes while Kyle stayed home with Noah. As a novice teacher, I had no idea how much strength was required to help a child learn how to ski, nor how much more strength was required to hold onto the tow rope and a child at the same time. I was four months pregnant and exhausted after just two runs. Jason suggested that next time we try the chair lifts instead, and I agreed. I told Kyle from now on he can teach the kids how to ski.

That afternoon and evening we spent with the Hunsakers. We started off visiting Anne's grave. 

Back at the house we had a wonderful dinner, followed by lots of fun activities. Grandma Diane gave all the grandkids these fun, flashing Christmas necklaces to wear for the evening.

Each family provided some live Christmas music. The kids had a great time dancing up the songs. And of course, Christmas Bingo is always a favorite tradition.

For the past few years, instead of giving sibling gifts and parent gifts, we (the Hunsaker family) have chosen to give the money that would have been spent to a family in need. Christmas Eve we all shared what we did. My mom also had the great idea for the whole family to write letters to our cousin, Guy, who is in prison. I know these activities will help the children understand the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas morning we woke up to a very white Christmas. Jason woke up earlier than usual (6:40) to open presents, but we only let him open his cereal and made him wait until 8:00 when we woke up Noah before opening presents. We learned the hard way that we should have bought two of everything we got for Jason. Noah just wanted whatever Jason got. Jason got more Angry Birds toys, a new race track, and art supplies. Noah got a pretend cell phone, a dragon, and art supplies. 

I was excited to use our first ever stockings this year. I started making them two weeks before Christmas, but having a firm deadline kept the project rolling along with help from Jason, Kyle, and my mom.

 Around lunch time we made our way to Grandma Linda's house. The boys enjoyed opening more gifts there. We ate a nice lunch, and then waited for the main event-- a call from Blair (in Bolivia on a mission). When the kids got restless, Kyle busted out his own Christmas gift (a balloon pump) and made balloon swords for all the kids. Kyle is going to become very handy at birthday parties and various gatherings.

 We are grateful for families, and all our many blessings!

A Jolly Christmas Prayer

For the majority of December, Noah has pretended to be Santa, complete with the hat and a deep voice. When he sees a picture of Santa, he points to it and says, "Look. That's me." Noah also calls me "Mommy Elf" and Kyle "Rudolph." We too are expected to play along with Santa on a daily basis. Jason is not always part of the game because he refuses to be told by anyone (Noah) who he should be. One night as we gathered for family prayer, I asked Noah if he would like to say it. Noah said, "Yes. I am Santa." The prayer went like this:

Kate: Dear Heavenly Father.

Noah: silence

Kate: Thank you for this day.

Noah: (In a deep Santa voice) Thank you for this day. HO, HO, HO.

Stifled laughter

Kate: We are grateful daddy got home safely.

Noah: (Deep voice) Yes.

Uncontrollable laughter. End of the prayer.

Although I'm sure it's not nearly as funny through this retelling, Kyle and I still laugh when we think back to this prayer.

In other news relating to this cute Santa, he has officially given up naps as of this month. He is following in Jason's footsteps, giving up naps before age three. Although I still miss my alone time to clean up the house, I have enjoyed going to Christmas parties without the worry of naps.

Christmas Card 2014

Designed by Kyle, and I think he did an awesome job!

Boy #3

We are having another boy! No big surprise there. After having two boys, I really figured our chances were high of having all boys, so I just told myself it was a boy. I actually even had a dream about it being a boy, and then I told Kyle the dream, and then he had a dream that the baby was a boy, but I don't rely on our dreams to tell me my future. Still, it is funny to relate. 

Jason, Noah, and my mom (who was baby-sitting) were the first to know after Kyle and I got back from the appointment. My doctor's office has dum-dums for the taking, so I picked out two blue dum-dums. When I got home, I told Jason and Noah to close their eyes, and then open them to guess if the baby would be a boy or girl. Jason opened the sucker that I placed in his hand and guessed right. Noah did a full-on dance, but I am sure it was just for the sucker. He still seems pretty clueless about the whole baby thing, but he has started noticing my belly sticking out. Jason was hoping for a girl, but he accepted the news gladly.

Noah had already consumed his sucker by the time I got the camera out.

Eighth Anniversary=Hawaii

Kyle and I celebrated our 8th anniversary this October. It was Kyle's year to plan the celebration, and he went all out this year. He planned a trip to Maui, which we were able to take a month late in November. It's a good thing we had that trip to look forward to, because our October anniversary date this year had some dead ends (gift cards not working, dance sold out), but at least we can still have fun just hanging out!

In Maui we stayed at the Wailea Marriott Resort. We enjoyed amazing snorkeling right from our resort. We were both a little nervous doing it at first, but then we settled in and became amazing beginners.

Enjoying our outdoor Luau:

I found this little guy in the hotel room and released him back into the wild:

Whoops! I meant this little guy:

We enjoyed the views and hikes around Haleakala National Park:

We also survived the Road to Hana! Actually, we survived beyond the road to Hana. We drove right on through Hana to the tropical side of Haleakala National Park where we enjoyed hiking the Pipiwai Trail to see this beautiful waterfall and the Pools of Oheo. The bamboo forest that we hiked through was pretty amazing too.

Mostly we just enjoyed being together in a such a warm, relaxing, romantic, and beautiful place. We are so grateful to the grandmas and aunts and cousins who looked after our kids so we could enjoy this trip. The boys thought they were the ones on vacation because they had so much fun. Noah was asking to go back to Grandma Diane's house the day after we got home. And if you missed our subtle announcement with the Halloween pictures, I am expecting baby #3. In these pictures I am 16 weeks along.

Thanks for a great celebration, Kyle. I love you!

Miscellaneous Fall Pictures

Jason running in his school's jog-a-thon. Noah and his friend, Chloe, were great supporters:

Jason learned how to ride a bike with two wheels! He still needs to gain more confidence in his ability. He learned to ride it on Alta High School's track, because it is nice and wide and you don't have to worry about cars or bushes.

We took advantage of a free tram ride at Snowbird:

Kyle turned 30! We carved pumpkins as a part of the birthday celebration:

Jason received the "Steer Toward Success" Award at his elementary. His teacher nominated him because "Jason does such a great job with the rules in our class. He is a great example." Way to go, Jason!

These boys are playing really well together. Jason is a great leader and Noah enjoys being told what to do--most of the time. They like to pretend they are different types of animals. Noah will often walk around holding his blanket to his bum pretending it is a tail. He also makes a lot of noise with his roaring like a dinosaur. My job is to be the doting mother who finds these homeless animals, or to be scared, or to occasionally get eaten. Almost all of these "animals" start off as an "egg" hidden under a blanket that I get to watch hatch, whether or not they are mammals or reptiles.

Jason has become very crafty. Recently, he plastered our windows with snowflakes, then turkeys, and now with Christmas decorations. It keeps him busy, and the creativity is fun to see.