James's Cyst 7.11.11

James had been running a fever for a while and acting super-fussy. I felt like it was more than just teething (little man's molars were coming in) and well..point for mother's intuition. He had a cyst at the back of his throat.

Back up. The pediatrician was confused when he saw it & described it as an "alien in the back of his throat!" Thanks Dr. Santos...just what every mom wants to hear...

Luckily, a specialist recognized it as an inflamed salivary gland. Very common in adults (not kiddos though), so poor little man had surgery to remove it.

He was pretty stinkin' cute in the mini hospital gown and charmed all the nurses. He went down screaming (making me cry), but woke up happy and recovered well. Just clingy and feverish the rest of the day.

Nothing extra cuddles and infants' Advil couldn't help.

Hiking

We hiked up to Little Falls on July 4th with my sisters (and Ben and baby Ben) :).
We're thinking of putting a massage chair in the hiking backpack for James's comfort... ;)

Alec enjoys hiking on his own, but usually requires some carrying along the way.

Bottom Snack

I'm sure if he could talk, he'd say he was saving them for later.

He's just clever like that.

Chopped

I LOVE James's curls. So much, in fact, that I've put off this moment for WAY too long. Yes, it looks like he has a mullet; yes, he has been mistaken for a girl and OF COURSE, I saved all his little curls in a ziploc bag.

He does still look pretty stinkin' cute without them.

Maybe now they'll grow in evenly and I can let them all grow out the same length. That would be ok, right?

Easter

We started celebrating Easter on Palm Sunday, following the schedule of Jesus' last week (as suggested in The Friend). So, on Palm Sunday Alec painted palm fronds & cut a picture of Jesus out & glued it to a donkey, then told the story at FHE with my family. We did little crafts like that all week to help him visualize it all better-it was really nice.

We also did a lot of the American traditions:

Putting together a LEGO set from his Easter basket with daddy (he's become a big LEGO fan lately). We tried to get little things for his basket that would be fun to do with family members:

Paul, however, got a load of chocolate (some of it was recycled). After 3 Easter parties Alec had more candy than he had at Halloween! So, Paul got the chocolates, Alec got to pick 4 & we gave the rest away.

Alec just saw me posting these pictures and shouted, "That was me when I was a little boy!"
Me-"Alec that was 2 weeks ago!"
Alec-"Yeah, when I was little, but now I'm growed up!"

Christmas morning was...mostly about the trampoline

We let the boys open their 'Santa' presents first thing. Alec would usually want to stop and play with each thing, then move on to the next.

Even the apple was an awesome present! (Note to self: next year spend more on me and give Alec fruit).

Maggie loved her girly doggie bed. I went as girly as possible-she's the only other female in the house-I need my help!

James, of course, is at the 'I love wrapping paper' phase of life. Consequently, he only got 3 gifts...

We headed back to my parents' for breakfast-Eggs Benedict-YUM!!

Kayden's new wagon was the 'Space Mountain' of the diaper crowd!

After presents at my parents', we headed home for Alec's big surprise. Paul even skype'd his parents so they could see Alec's face when he first saw it!!

It was a long, cold night before Christmas

Christmas Eve is celebrated at the Hunter household. This may not have been the best pic of us, but it captured how we were. Alec is fussing, "But, I don't want my picture taken!" James is staring adoringly at his big bro, whilst Paul and I smile/cringe.

We always make gingerbread houses and over the years the tradition has morphed into a sugar-driven frenzied competition for the "best house". Enthusiasm usually dies down for most after about 10 minutes, but the early part is riddled with 'hidden goodies' people sneak in and bought ahead of time to gain the upper hand (seriously, it's that important!).

Next comes the 'candy' game. Like a white elephant gift exchange, but with candy bars. This usually turns into a playful trading of one stupid candy that nobody really wants (really, we should play this BEFORE making the houses and eating candy).

And of course, Christmas Eve pajamas. My parents started this when we were young (along with the rest of the world), after realizing how ghetto we looked on Christmas morning in ragged old baggy t-shirts (we used to rip off one arm and call ourselves 'Nephi'-as costumed in the 'Living Scriptures' DVDs, so spiritual).

The three babies had matching Mickey Mouse and Alec got Buzz Lightyear. We tried to take some pics, but Ben (as usual) got hungry and decided to munch on Kayden's leg. Kayden couldn't even fight back!

Hyped up on sugar (well, Alec anyway), we took the boys home for a bath where I got some cute pics of James in the tub. The joy of my life-his hair curls into little ringlets when wet! This excites me much more than Paul, who has curly hair and continually asks/nags when I'll be cutting James's mullet.

The boys were giggling before storytime, so I caught a sweet moment.

Now for the real fun. Paul had to put together Alec's big Christmas present from his granny & grandad. I'd be teasing Paul for a month about putting it together Christmas Eve and he kept telling me about his plans to do it in stages leading up to Christmas Eve, since Alec never went into the rock-covered backyard. Without me nagging, that never happened.

Luckily, my cousins Danny & Sawyer volunteered to brave the freezing Vegas cold night (seriously-I think it got below 50!!) to spend a couple hours stretching springs out.

Bless 'em, they got it done!

Disney

We took our annual Christmastime trip to Disneyland earlier this year, in an effort to avoid the extreme crowds. Alec had been begging to go for the last 3 months, so the anticipation for him was quite the build-up. We cut the trip shorter-to just 2 days and added in a character breakfast. First thing in the park, he demanded the Buzz Lightyear ride. Also, I have proof of Paul's sense of humor:

With no prompting from anyone Alec is somehow able to look everywhere BUT at the camera during family shots:

James was super-smiley, I see another Disneyland fan in the making here:

The character breakfast at the Plaza Inn was wonderful! The food was amazing and the characters each took the time to visit our table and spend time with the boys. Alec was SO happy and it meant no waiting in lines around the park to get pictures with the characters.

James hated the full costumed characters (takes after his granny) and actually cried when Eeyore came to see him. He did, however, enjoy the humans, like the Fairy Godmother:

Alec kept his 3-D glasses on for most of the Muppet Show!

Since my family met up with us on the second day, Paul and I were able to do some adult rides together, which is so nice! Here we are in line for Indiana Jones:

Even after just two days Paul and I were beat. But, it's so magical still for Alec and I love that!