On Saturday Jan. 3, 2009

Kyle and Ashley were on their way home from spending the week in Chico with their friends for New Years. John and I decided we wanted to get out of the darn house, so we loaded up the kids and headed to Brentwood. Here are some pictures from that day.

my oh my

Has a lot of time gone by since I updated this...bad me.

A lot has happened in the Hunter house.

We had a great Thanksgiving...

A historical election...

Early Christmas with my family...(thought it was great, turned out it wasn't in my dad and step mom's eyes)

Christmas!! Hope everyone had a great holiday...

New Years...

Gillian had her precious baby girl Ellie...

Ami is due to have her precious Scotch on the 15th...

Emily got her positive preggy test after 2 yrs of trying...

Lise is due to have Owen in the next few weeks...

boy this has been a productive baby year...

Amelia is turning 1 on the 17th! I cannot believe she is turning 1, where has the time gone?

more pictures to come....

A new beginning

Today a remarkable thing happened...a bi-racial man named Barack Hussein Obama was elected president.

Though the McCain campaign tried to make America afraid of this man, they failed. Lordy bee, Sarah Palin called him everything but Hitler reincarnated, literally throwing the kitchen sink at him and they failed. It rejuvenates my belief in the American spirit, the strength and goodness of the people I call my fellow citizens.

Did you take the time to listen to the speeches delivered tonight by John McCain and Barack Obama? Did you hear the contrast in the crowd? When Sen. McCain congratulated Obama the crowd booed on the flip side, while Barack Obama congratulated John McCain, thanked him for his service and commended his campaign the crowd cheered. Do you see the difference in the mentality? I am constantly amazed at the contrast in the two parties. I am often asked why I am a Democrat. I always respond because the Democratic party accepts all, the Republicans are a divisive party. Did you ever notice the crowd at McCain's rally's???? Mostly white. I consciously looked to see who was in the crowd...Obama rallys, ALL RACES, FACES, RELIGIONS AND CREEDS, what does that tell you? It speaks volumes to me.

When you take the time and really think about what he has experienced in his lifetime. He's the child of a black man from Kenya, and a white woman from Kansas....born in 1961, do you realize that when he was born it was not even legal for a biracial couple to be married???? Yep, it was not legal for a black man to marry a white woman until June 12, 1967 Loving vs. Virginia...Then to make the odds even harder, his father abandoned Barack and his mother. Through many twists and turns he ended up living with his grandparents, white grandparents from Kansas living in Hawaii. Even in Hawaii he was a minority, not simply because he was black but because he was also white, the majority of people living in Hawaii are Hawaiian, Samoan, and of Asian descent.....still today.

Tonight we go to bed with the light of a new dawn, a new era. One I am very proud to witness and have been proud to have participated in. Barack Obama was not my first choice I am the first to admit, but he has grown on me but he has a lot to prove. He needs to prove to his critics that he's not the do good, feel good candidate, that was simply elected because the current administration is so un-popular. But that he truly is the capable man that I know in the my gut that he is.

So congratulations Mr. President elect, go get 'em make us proud. Your "Toot", your grandpa, your mom and even your father are looking down smiling and so very proud proud of you. Not because of your race but because of the man you became and all you have accomplished.

Mimi and her walker!

Yesterday John, Kyle, Cassidy, Aidan, Amelia and I decided to go exploring. We headed north east into the area known as Copper Valley to a small planned community called Copperopolis, yes, that's the name. Actually its a very neat little area. After spending all day cruising around, looking at open houses and finding what is considered Copperopolis "proper" we stopped and ate dinner at a small hole in the wall Mexican restaurant. Dinner was very yummy! Amelia is at that point now where she eats her dinner, then wants to sample what everyone else is eating. I felt a wee bit bad for the waiter as we left. I looked down and saw all the crackers, cheerios and shredded cheese she left on the floor and hoped John put a little extra in the tip :)

So as we are headed out of the hills we realize we need to stop at Babies R Us in Stockton and get a few things for little Miss! I love Babies R Us, it's probably a really good thing there is not one closer.

We go in and the first thing we look for is a new diaper bag...the one we have been using is since Cassidy was a baby, my old trusty Baby Trend back pack diaper bag. I tried looking at the old regular kind, nope I decide, just not my thing, so I picked out a new back pack diaper bag LOL. I might be a mommy, but I don't need to look like an old bag carrying around a bag...

Next isle we go to is the walkers. Now that Amelia has mastered crawling, and is trying to pull herself into the standing position on furniture, we figured it was time for a walker. Boy have walkers come a long way since Kyle and Ashley were babies (strange how the one we had for Cassidy and Aidan disappeared). We ended up choosing quite the Cadillac version for Mimi. Oh boy does AJ love it, for those who don't know he's addicted to cars. Anyway, this thing sooooo cool! It's a red, GT walker, lights and sounds included. I will post pics later. But boy since we put this thing together last night all she wants to do is be in this walker. AJ is thrilled, he gets to push her all over the house now. He has a real live version of a car and Amelia just giggles the whole time. I wonder how long it will take for her to really learn to maneuver this thing since she's getting used to being pushed around in it?

Babies R Us can be a very dangerous venture. Next was off to get Mimi some new socks, then it was off to the sleep sack's. Sleep sacks have got to be one of the greatest inventions ever! No more getting up a million times a night to make sure the blankets not smothering the baby, no more cold baby legs and feet in the morning, just awesome! Wish they had been around when Kyle and Ash were babies.

I guess that's enough rambling for now....need to go check on sicky Ashley.

Hunter Happenings

Well, Chico was great!! The kids had so much fun with their Chico playgroup friends.....the Royal Rugrats! It was awesome.

Saturday night we went out to dinner with some very good, and old friends of ours Matt and Stephanie Moore. We met Matt and Stephanie when Kyle and Garrick were in Kindergarten. Our kids have known eachother since Kyle was 4, Garrick 5, Ashley and Amber were 3. All 4 kids are the best of friends and always will be. They have a younger son named Raven who is 2 years and 1 day older than Cassidy. Raven, Cassidy and Aidan are like 3 little peas in a pod. In no time Amelia will be on their heels driving them crazy I'm sure.

Reality really hit John and I on Thursday when we had to actually place the order for all of Kyle's graduation stuff. The invitations, cap and gown have all been ordered...where has the time gone?

Tonight was Halloween of course and the kids had a great time. Cassidy was a spider princess, Aidan was a vampire and Amelia was a lady bug. They finally fell into bed and passed out about an hour ago (all but Amelia who is screaming her lungs out right now not wanting to go to sleep), thank goodness it was on a Friday this year. Kyle and Ashley went trick or treating with about 10 of their cross country friends. I have to say seeing 3 16 & 17 yr old boys dressed in drag is pretty darn funny, wish I had gotten some pics. Ashley was a Pink Lady and Kyle was a really creepy Jester. Since Ashley has been terrified of clowns since Heather Scott made her watch IT when she was 8, she made Kyle leave the mask off most of the night, LOL.

Tomorrow we are going scouting out new areas. John and I have really decided we hate the Valley. It's ugly, flat, dirty and brown. So our new mission is to find a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountain range that is a reasonable commute for John that we can move to in a few years after Kyle and Ashley have both graduated from high school. Will keep you posted.

Ok, time to go and try to calm Amelia down. She had her 9 mo old well baby check up today. She is just a little peanut. She is only 9 oz heavier than she was at her 7 mo check up putting her in the 10th percentile for weight now weighing in at a whopping 16lbs 10oz. But she has grown 2.5 inches putting her in the 25th percentile for height. I have a feeling she is going to be small and petite like her big, big sister Ashley who at 16 is all of 5 ft 1/2" tall. I think Cassidy will tower over both her sisters :)

Above you will find pictures from play group Halloween party, Cassie's school Halloween parade and tonight...enjoy the updated pictures.

XO's to all

life's turns and in roads......

This has been one busy crazy Hunter house week!!

Monday- Ashley had Powder Puff football....to funny. The game is rigged so the Sr's win, man was my girl pizzed off!! LOL

Tues and Wed just normal busy days. Wednesday was busier than usual since John was gone till 9 working the phone bank for PG&E about prop. H in San Francisco...then Kyle and Ashley had a night rally for Homecoming this weekend.

Oh and in the midst of it all, Kyle comes home with all the stuff we have to order for his Sr. yr. In this package comes the order for the Announcments, Thank you notes, class shirt and hoodie, key chain, cap and gown. Don't even get me started on the price tag of this one! We've already gotten his class ring next we have to order his lettermans jacket. Oh the fun of it all. No sooner will we get through all this with Kyle and it starts again next year with Ashley. At least Ashley's not in a huge hurry to leave home, she is actually planning on staying home and going to Jr college for the first 2 years. Kyle on the other hand can't wait to get out of here. Of course one small problem with his plan, he has no plan......

Tomorrow, Thursday I will be running ALL day long!! And will actually be taking time for ME, and getting my hair cut!! YAY.

I can't wait, Friday John and I load up the little one's (Kyle following in his car) and heading off to Chico while we leave Ashley here for the weekend......

It's that time of year again, the Royal Rugrats Halloween party. Cassidy and Aidan are so excited! They miss their friends like crazy and I can't wait to see my crazy friend Nicole and my normal friend Lucia, and Lucianna. Lucianna was recently in a really bad car accident and is basically on bed rest, but even a car accident can't keep her little fanny away from the Rugrats Halloween party! Cassidy is very excited to be seeing her 'husband' Daniel.

Oh then to make things really fun we will be having dinner with our friends Matt and Stephanie at Tortillia Flats, YUMMY, ooh and a margarita or two yipeeee.

My Miss Amelia

My Miss Amelia is 9 months old today......where has the time gone? She's as old as the length of time I was pregnant with her.

She is smiling all the time, giggles constantly, crawling and already trying to get her legs under her. Is she going to be like Ashley and walking by 10 months? Hmm, a question to be answered in time I guess.

Some interesting facts about Amelia:

She is a huge mama's girl
She thinks daddy is a great play toy
She smiles ALL the time
She giggles constantly
She is extremely ticklish!!
She crawls from one end of the living room to the other
She sleeps through the night...
.....though getting her to sleep is a major challenge
She adores her big brothers and sisters
She has an angelic voice
She has the cutest squeal you will ever hear
She won't take a bottle, it's mama or nothing!
She loves her veggies
She loves Cheerios
She likes to play with dog toys.......
She loves books

She truly is the icing on the cake, a pure ray of sunshine and a blessing from God. To bad there are many out there who have never been touched by her magic.