happy thanksgiving!

Last year, Grammy Eccles made Harper and Hunter a Thanksgiving calendar, where each day was a new lesson about gratitude.  This year, we were so excited to receive a new set of lessons for our gratitude countdown.  Once again, it has brought the spirit of Thanksgiving into our home and into our hearts.  Hunter and especially Harper look forward to doing "a gratitude" each day, and it has been so special to spend time together as a family remembering all the things, little and big, that we have to be grateful for.  To name a few…

1.) We are thankful for our teeth - Check out Harper's new toothbrush!  Grammy Eccles gave Harper and Hunter $1 per pound of Halloween candy that they gave away, and that money was to be used for a gratitude project later in the month (stay tuned for #9).  We decided to send some treats to our friend who is a missionary in Mexico.
2.) We are thankful for day and night - We learn from the scriptures how God divided the day from the night, and Daddy helped Harper with an activity matching daytime activities and nighttime activities.
3.) We are thankful for our cousins - Harper and Hunter made cards to send to some of their cousins.
4.) We are thankful for our kitchen - We used our kitchen tools and a special recipe to make treats for our neighbors upstairs!  Delivering them was the best part for Harper; she loves our neighbors so much.

5.) We are thankful for our books - Grammy Eccles sent some fun books about fall for us to read together.
6.) We are thankful for our neighbors - Harper made a card to take to our special neighbors upstairs. She would bring them a card everyday if she could!
7.) We are thankful for our Daddy - Harper and Hunter made special notes for Daddy telling him why they are thankful for him and hid them under his pillow to surprise him!  Then Harper ran to Daddy and said, "Daddy, we hid a surprise for you under your pillow!"
8.) We are thankful for our house - We worked together to pick up Harper and Hunter's room.  Grammy Eccles gave Harper and Hunter $5 for this project, to be used for our next gratitude project.  Hunter was more interested in looking at the books than putting them away, but we did our best.

9.) We are thankful for our toys - Using the money that Harper and Hunter earned from their Halloween candy and cleaning their room, plus a Target gift card from Grammy Eccles, we went shopping to purchase toys for some friends who don't have as much as we do.  We selected names from The Home For Little Wanderer's Christmas wish drive, and we spent time shopping for the items on these little friends' wish lists.  We picked a little girl the same age as Harper who asked for a baby doll stroller and a little boy the same age as Hunter who wanted a potty and a drum set.  Picking out toys for these friends was a tender reminder of all that we have in our lives, so many blessings that we are grateful for. 
10.) We are thankful for our brothers - Harper just loves her little brother, Hunter, and she has loved thinking about her big brother, Rex, up in heaven too.  What a blessing it is to have siblings that we love and have fun with.  Harper is a great big sister to Hunter and gives him so much love everyday.
11.) We are thankful for aunts and uncles - Harper and Hunter drew special cards to send to one of their aunts and one of their uncles.
12.) We are thankful for our moms - Harper and Hunter made me a special Thanksgiving necklace that even had a turkey bead on it! Harper also wrote me a special note that she hid in my purse so that I discovered it at work the next day!  This time, she kept it a secret.  It made me smile to learn the reasons Harper feels grateful for her mommy.  My heart is full with gratitude for my amazing family.

13.) We are thankful for our family - Grammy Eccles treated us to a new game, Barrel of Monkeys, that we learned to play together as a family.  Family game nights are so fun!
14.) We are thankful for turkey - Thanksgiving dinner wouldn't be complete without turkey!  Grammy Eccles sent us supplies to make a craft turkey.  We love doing Thanksgiving crafts.
15.) We are thankful for our eyes - We thought about all of the things we like to see with our eyes and the things we would miss seeing if we didn't have the gift of sight.  Then we got to use our eyes to watch a movie together as a family.  Can you guess what we watched?  That's right, Frozen!  And we had popcorn too. Yum.
16.) We are thankful for nature - We love spending time outdoors, especially at the park.  Not a day goes by that Harper doesn't ask to go to the park down to the street from our house.  Fortunately, the weather has been so great that we have been able to play at the park a lot lately, sometimes even without our coats on.  We hope this lasts forever.

17.) We are grateful for technology - We use technology all the time, like our iPhone that allowed us to take pictures of our daily gratitude activities.
18.) We are grateful for our Heavenly Father - He has blessed us with everything.  Harper knelt down and said a special prayer to express her gratitude for the things in her life that Heavenly father has blessed her with.  What a tender moment.
19.) We are grateful for grandparents - Harper and Hunter made thank you cards and sent them to each of their grandparents.
20.) We are thankful for Thanksgiving - We can't wait for our Thanksgiving feast and for the chance to be together with some of our family and friends.  Grammy Eccles sent supplies for Harper to make us placemats to use.
21.) We are grateful for our hands - Grammy Eccles sent some special window markers, and Daddy helped Harper and Hunter make handprint turkeys on the window to decorate for Thanksgiving.

22.) We are grateful for apples - Today we learned fun facts about apples.  Did you know that apples can float in water because 25% of their volume is air?  Neat, huh? At the grocery store, Harper and Hunter got to sample some different types of apples-- delicious!
23.) We are grateful for our car - We decided to take care of our car with a trip to the carwash.  It was quite an adventure; Harper and Hunter weren't sure what to make of it as we went through… But our car looked great when we were done!

24.) We are thankful for friends - We read a story that Grammy Eccles sent about friendship.  Our friends are so special to us. Harper and Hunter picked a few special friends to make Thanksgiving cards for.  We even got to have a special dinner date at Shake Shack with two of our best friends, Carder and Brenn, who love Shake Shack as much as we do!
25.) We are thankful for water - We learned about the different kinds of reasons, physical and spiritual, that water is important.  Grammy Eccles sent us some magic powder to add to our water bottles to make plain water turn to raspberry lemonade--magical and tasty!  
26.) We are thankful for food - Food is an important part of the Thanksgiving feast and also a way to keep our bodies healthy and help us grow strong.  Grammy Eccles sent Harper and Hunter some new foods to try--yum!

We are so thankful to Grammy Eccles for making this month such a special celebration of gratitude.  Thanksgiving is so much more meaningful after having the chance to reflect on all the things we have to be thankful for, which is even more than the 27 things we learned about this month.  We are rich with blessings.  We celebrated Thanksgiving out at Mimi's house this year with A LOT of friends and family, almost 30 people total.  It was a crazy, fun day.  The fried turkey that Dallin made was a special highlight of the day, and we were grateful to him for venturing out into the cold snow to make it.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of our family and friends who have made this year so special.  Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours.

november / 14 months / happy birthday, harper!

What an exciting month we have had!  While counting down to Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a visit from our Seattle friends; celebrated Harper's third birthday; and our sweet little Hunter turned 14 months old.  And the holiday season is only just beginning!  We are so grateful for each and every day.  Here is a story in pictures of our month…

We love the fall!  Every year, we anticipate fall, and then it seems like it's over in the blink of an eye.  This year, New England has graced us with a long, beautiful autumn.  We have enjoyed weeks upon weeks of brilliant foliage, crisp days at the park, and all the fall art projects we could possibly dream of.  Even special moments like walking together to the donut shop in the morning are beautiful.  We feel so lucky to live in a city that we love and for the chance to enjoy our favorite season.

Hunter's new trick:
face first down the slide!

Cheers!
Friends who eat at
Shake Shack together,
stay together.

We were so excited to welcome our Seattle friends, the Kirks, for a visit earlier this month.  We are lucky that Annie visits us nearly every year, but this was Justin's first time in Boston.  That made this particular visit extra special since we were happy to show him around.  They arrived on the red eye early Friday morning, and over breakfast they shared some really amazing news: they are expecting a baby of their own this spring!  Another reason to celebrate throughout the weekend!  We jammed as much into a few days as we possibly could.  Some of the highlights were: dinner at Shake Shack, a trip to Harvard Square and walk around the Harvard campus, hot chocolate at LA Burdick, a play date at our favorite park, and even a tour of Fenway Park.  We had such a fun time together that saying goodbye was harder than ever. The silver lining is that on the next visit, there will be a little baby Kirk in tow.  We seriously can't wait.

Chasing Justin around Harvard Yard!
Or we we Bostonians say,
"Haaavaaad Yaaad"

Yum!
Hot chocolate from Burdick's is our favorite.

Fenway Park selfies!

The following week was Harper's third birthday, and we extended the celebration throughout the week.  Unfortunately, Dallin and I both had to work on Harper's birthday, but that didn't stop us from celebrating.  In the morning, we treated Harper to her favorite breakfast: a pink donut, complete with birthday candle. She also got to open some of her presents, the most fun being her new easel.  She and Hunter got to work quickly, collaborating on their first easel project.

    

Birthday breakfast for our girl!

The next day, Harper celebrated with her friends at school, which is always a blast.  Harper loves birthdays and especially singing the "happy birthday" song--so having it sung FOR HER is an even bigger deal, especially by the friends that she loves so much.  It is a special group that means the world to our family, and we can't imagine celebrating a birthday without them.

On Friday, we saw our pediatrician for Harper's three year check up.  Harper loves going to the pediatrician because it means the chance to see Mimi at work.  Mimi is nurse in the same practice where our pediatrician is, and it is infinitely exciting to Harper to see Mimi out and about in the world.  At her visit, Harper weighed 41 lbs. 6.4 oz. and measured 41.25 inches high: a perfect little square!  These measurements put her in the 100th percentile for height and the 99th percentile for weight.  She is happy and healthy, and we are so grateful for that.

Then on Sunday, we had our family and friends celebrate with us!  The theme of Harper's party was confetti, and so we had confetti and sprinkles everywhere.  In fact, we even made Harper a homemade fun-fetti cake!  On top of all the celebrating, she got soooo many fun presents: new clothes for her baby dolls, a new dolly, books, art supplies, cool clothes, and even a special handmade necklace.  This little girl might be just a little bit spoiled, but gosh she deserves it!

Harper loves the special
necklace that Talyn
made for her!

Our little three year-old's favorite things these days are: anything having to do with Frozen, building "structures" with Legos, dancing along to music videos on YouTube (especially Chandelier by Sia), coloring, playing dress up, tackling Daddy, play dates with friends, play dough, art projects, practicing her letters, the ball pit at Ikea, trips to the park, her baby dolls (which finally have names!--Lizzie and Flora), and being silly with her little brother.  Harper meets each moment of every day with a smile.  She is kind and energetic, always looking for a friend or a fun project.  The last three years have been filled with more joy than we knew possible, thanks to Harper and her sweet spirit.  Every day with our little girl is a celebration.  Happiest birthday to our little h!

We love this silly girl!

Hipster boy

Hunter is growing up fast too!  He turned 14 months old this month, and his little personality continues to emerge more and more each day.  Hunter is such a funny, expressive little guy.  He is not walking yet, but even so, we know that he is definitely going to be an athlete someday--he is continuously excited by any and every ball that he spots.  The other day, at a friend's house, he spent 30 straight minutes rolling their basketball around the hallway.  Like his sister, he also loves to dress up, and hats are his favorite accessory--no matter if the hat belongs to him, Harper, Dallin, or even me.  In true little brother fashion, he happily inherits Harper's devotion to just about everything, like the movie Frozen or her love for baby dolls.  It's also interesting watching them play with the same toys so differently.  Hunter is definitely a very physical kid, always on the go.  When he takes a pause, he loves snuggling too.  It melts my heart when he lies his head on my shoulder, or cozies up for a hug or cuddle.  Harper is still his favorite person to cuddle with or be silly.  They are two peas in a pod, and we will never tire of watching them play together.

It has been a very full month, busy and fun.  Having just celebrated Thanksgiving, our hearts are full with gratitude for our family, especially our two little Hs, and our friends.  We look forward to sharing the rest of the holiday season with them, especially Christmas!  After all, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

counting down

In a couple of weeks, Harper will be turning three!  Harper loves birthdays so much, and so hers is an especially exciting event.  The day after Hunter's birthday party, Harper woke up and asked, "Mom, is today my birthday?"  She has been waiting patiently for her special day ever since.  As we count down, I can't help but think back over the past few years and how full our lives are, thanks to our little girl.  She is beautiful through and through.  Every day with her is fun, funny, and occasionally exasperating--but certainly never dull.  We can't wait to celebrate this special little person:

happy halloween!

Happy Halloween!  And what a happy day indeed for Princess Anna and one ferociously cute little lion--from morning until night...

Our day started with dance class, and it also happened to be open studio day at Harper's dance school.  That means that, rather than watching from the hallway, we were allowed to go into the classroom to watch the class and take photos.  Hunter is obsessed with Harper's dance class and is always banging on the glass door and trying to scoot inside when the door opens.  So this was basically his dream come true.  Mimi and Gramzy were able to join us as well, which was a special treat.  Harper's class performed a special Halloween dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller.  So fun!

Later that afternoon, we had a Halloween party to attend--and not just any party but a ghost parade.  My friend Holli and I invited all the kiddos, and we made mini chalkboard pumpkins, snacked on festive treats, and then paraded through the yard with little ghosts made of cheesecloth.  There were princesses, pumpkins, Micky and Minnie Mouse, and a dozen more festive friends in attendance.  Gosh there is nothing sweeter than kids in costumes.

We wrapped up the party in time to return home and pick up our daddy to go trick or treating.  Unlike in years past when we have gone around or neighborhood trick-or-treating, we decided to try something different.  We headed into the city for Beacon Hill's annual Halloween stroll, where the gorgeous historic homes display their decorations and open their front doors to pass out candy to the legions of trick-or-treaters.  Dallin and I weren't quite sure how Hunter and (more notably) Harper would take to this activity, but since lots of our friends had gone in the past and were going again this Halloween, we figured we would give it a try.  I was feeling optimistic, Dallin not so much; unfortunately Dallin was right.  Hunter was happy and content in his stroller, but the crowds of people in costume, some of those costumes being super intense, were a little too much for our sweet little Princess Anna.  After a couple of houses, Harper proclaimed, "I have enough candy.  I want to go home."  We thought that meeting up with our friends would persuade, or at least distract her, but no such luck.  So we headed home a little while later, soaking up the festive decorations on Charles Street along the way.  Sadly, we took no pictures of our family together in costumes.  Dallin was a cowboy, and I was Clark Kent.  We were so festive!  Next year, we will have to remember to capture it.

On the way home, we stopped at one of our favorite spots, Chipotle, for dinner.  If you show up in costume on Halloween, you get a discount on your dinner (yay!).  We ran into some friends while we waited in line.  A couple of quesadillas, burritos, and tacos later, it was time to get Princess Anna and her little lion brother into the bath and ready for bed.  Fortunately, the trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood didn't take ALL of the candy we left out on the porch using the honor system, and so the day ended with me eating my weight in Milky Way.  The next morning Harper couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had trick-or-treating so it looks like our Beacon Hill adventure left no permanent scars--whew.  Happiest Halloween from our family to yours!