Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas in Ohio. Initially we were sad to not be with our families this year, but we kept very busy and made some fun traditions for our own little family. If it weren't for great friends I think we would have been very bored. Some highlights were:

1. Making Gingerbread Houses with friends! Sarah made a Gingerbread Trailer House, complete with wheels.
2. Bowling on Christmas Eve. The Johnsons introduced us to this family tradition and it was a blast. We found a bowling alley that was open, but it was in Plain City which is 20 minutes away and it's a tad "Hickville". In spite of a dog running around, we had an awesome time. The kids had never bowled before and that made it even more fun. We were shocked when Allie got the first strike! The Johnsons brought several prizes and our family ended up winning them all...although we shared with everyone else. So...Darin won for highest score, Sarah won for lowest score, Allie won for first strike, Darin won for most strikes and most spares! So...ya luckily Allie and Kate take after Darin. We hope Roman does too!
3. My niece Kayla came to visit us on Christmas Eve and is staying until Jan 5th. She is 17 and a senior in h.s. We LOVE having her here! She actually makes me look forward to the day that my girls are teenagers!
4. Christmas Eve Dinner with our Bishop's family and several others from our ward. The food was amazing and so was the entertainment--music from homemade instruments.
5. Christmas morning with our family was wonderful. The kids woke up around 8...not bad. It was hard to keep them from opening all of the gifts at once but somehow they restrained themselves. Something about little kids on Christmas morning is just magical. They were delighted with everything from socks to toys. Allie asked me if I could hear bells, I told her yes and she said that means I believe in Santa. She's right!
6. Christmas dinner at the church. Several friends who stayed here got together Christmas afternoon. It was so nice to be around people we love rather than sitting at home wondering what our families are up to. We even had the kids put on a Nativity...although Joseph was a no-show. ha
The festivities were great but we definitely took time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior. Having a son this time of year gave me a new perspective to how Mary may have felt...on the smallest of levels. I can't imagine the circumstances she was under, or the complete understanding she had of giving birth to the Savior of the World. I can only say that I am grateful for her and especially grateful to Jesus for the Life He Lived and the Life He Gave.

We are looking forward to this New Year! We are inviting friends over for a big breakfast--the Sundbergs shared that tradition with us when they lived here. We'll also be setting some Goals for 2008!!!

Have a Happy and Safe New Years!

This is the Day of My Life!

I had full intent to blog last Sunday (today is Friday) but got caught up in Christmas cards, which left no time for updates. BTW, the last of the cards went out yesterday and I'm sure they won't make it to anyone before Christmas. Oh well, I'm just very happy that I got them done.

ZOO Lights

Last week was pretty much drama free. We had freakishly warm weather on Tuesday night so we packed up the kids and went to the zoo to see the Christmas lights. I had been making treats to take the neighbors beforehand and felt very frazzled but knew we needed to go. On the way there Darin asked why I was so annoyed. I replied that I knew going to do something as a family was the right thing to do but I had such a long list of what needed to be done that it was hard to relax and have fun. Well that all changed as soon as we got there. The girls were SOOOO excited and kept saying with all the enthusiasm possible, "Mom, Dad, this is the Day of My Life!" --they didn't realize the phrase is "Best" or "Worst" day of my life...it was so funny. Soon Darin and I were equally as excited as they were about the lights and blow up decorations. They were right, it was the Day of My Life and I needed to chose if it was the "Best" or the "Worst"...glad to report that it became the "Best."




















Annual White Elephant Party

Some dear friends invited us to their Annual White Elephant Christmas Party. It was so fun to hang out with other couples...and a few babies.
Darin and I couldn't think of a good White Elephant gift until the day of...whew! Darin had a great idea, Gold Fish. Another couple was actually excited to take take the fish home to their son...we were excited to bring home our new Hello Kitty toaster. The girls were thrilled when they saw it in the morning and of course wanted toast for breakfast...too bad that the Hello Kitty imprint doesn't really show up very well on wheat bread. The girls insisted we buy some white bread so they could see Hello Kitty on the toast, well for anyone considering purchasing one of these lovely toasters, keep in mind that your toast has to get quite dark in order for Hello Kitty to show up. Even a three year old who loves Hello Kitty can't eat that "toasty" of toast. We're invited to another White Elephant party on Christmas Day...some other lucky little girl might get to go home with a new toaster! When we got home from the party that night, our sweet little girls were in bed but had made this banner for us...it's still hanging up. So cute!

So one last update...Roman. He is getting really big and is still smiley but sadly, like our girls, he is now very colicky. He has acid reflux and is really fussy when he eats, after he eats, and when he's awake...yah so pretty much unless he's asleep. So, we put him on some soy formula and he's doing much better. The formula smells awful but he seems to like it. I've stopped eating anything with dairy, chocolate, and any vegetables that cause gas---no, I can't think of much to eat other than dry chicken and rice :(. So I'll try to nurse him again in a few days when all of the dairy and CHOCOLATE are out of my system to see if it works as well as the formula is.


I almost forgot, we did get a little snow last week and went to see Santa! Funny story about Santa. We went Thursday afternoon but Santa was going on break, we watched a few kids sit in his lap while we waited to find out when he was going and coming back. As we watched three brothers ages 6 to 10 walked up to him. He greeted them and then asked, "Boys why do you fight so much? And why don't you listen to your mother?" He said it in such a firm but loving way and boy did those guys start shifting. It was the funniest thing I've EVER seen! My girls saw it too and that definitely got me some leverage this week!

Highlights From Our Week...

The Best Week Ever!!!

Making 14 dozen cookies turned out to be the highlight of my week, no kidding. Rather than bore everyone with the details here is a quick list of what made this "The Best Week Ever!" at the Lunt's.

5. Making 14 dozen cookies for Kate's school fundraiser.
4. Staying up all night after making the 14 dozen cookies because Allie has the stomach flu.
3. Nursing Roman while taking care of a sick kid...is there some kind of degree in multi-tasking? I think I would qualify for a doctorate.
2. Decorating for the ward Christmas party with Roman who wants to nurse constantly and Allie who has pinkeye and can't be babysat or go to school.
1. Getting sprayed with throw up by Kate at the Ward Christmas Party....yes, that was priceless. Having the ward mad at me for bringing a sick kid to the party is another bonus. Had I known, I PROMISE I would have stayed home!!!! Poor Darin had to clean it all up...he deserves an award for that one.

Really great things that happened this week:
1. Roman slept 7 hours on Tuesday night! He's done this a few other times which made me feel like a new person the next day.
2. We got 6 inches of snow on Wednesday which happened to be a day that Allie didn't have to go to school so we played in the snow with our friends the Buxtons. Then we had a yummy lunch of warm soup and hot chocolate. (yes, this was prior to her stomach flu)
3. I started back to work for the first time since Roman was born. I was very nervous about scheduling anyone because of his eating schedule but it worked out great. My client only wanted to shop for 2 hours so it was perfect and Darin got to take all three kids to a swimming birthday party (did I mention how awesome my hubby is?!).

The Sunday Post

I've been getting some heat for creating a blog and never "blogging" so I decided that Sunday will be my update day. The reason I didn't want to have a blog is because of this very reason...I'm not good at homework. Anyway, I think I'll also keep a printed version of my updates to serve as our family journal...two birds with one stone.

This week was pretty interesting, yes I made it out of the house but I still don't feel back to normal or whatever my new normal will be. The kids were pretty funny this week. Kate seriously asked me, "Mommy, why don't you exercise anymore?" Well, at least she stopped asking if there was another baby in my tummy! I guess the kids want me to get back to "normal" too. Allie keeps referring to nursing the baby as "Milking the Baby." I laugh every time she says it because often that's how I feel.

Darin is having sooo much fun with his new little guy. Everyday he comes home and claims that it's now his turn to hold the baby...funny how it's NOT his turn when Roman gets fussy. Just kidding. Darin has been pooped on (I think it's father-son bonding) more times than I have for sure.

We got an email from some friends who had been "Elfed" so we decided to as well. Click on this link for the full show: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1144984471 . We were sad that Roman couldn't be in on the dance but he was sleeping....seriously this is the first time that my family is "too big" for something....well go Elf yourself and you'll see what I mean.

So PLEASE pray for me this week. I kid you not, I have to make 14 DOZEN cookies for Kate's school cookie sale. I have to deliver those on the same day as our Ward Christmas party...I'm on the activities committee and this is our big activity for the year. I'll have to post pictures...it really is something for a church activity. So I will be decorating the church for about 6 hours I'm guessing, then I'll come home and get us all ready while helping to cook the food for the evening. Good thing I'm good at time-management ;) LOL--yes, that was a joke.

Our Big Trip to COSI!

We Made It Out of the House....

Today was a milestone, I actually made it out of the house with all three kids on my own and we did something fun! I've taken all three for a few errands but no big trips. Other than Roman's diaper blow-out at the end of the fieldtrip, it was a big success. (He was even wearing a onesie that said, "Warning! I Leak!" --pretty funny!) The girls have been begging me to take them to COSI, so we went to see the Bob the Builder Exhibit. For anyone in Columbus, I highly recommend it...and so do the girls.

Oh, I also uploaded a couple of pictures of Roman...I took the one of him w/ the baseball glove and Shannon Harris took the darling one of him in blue. Roman is such a smiler at home, he loves for us to talk to him and smiles all the time, but NOT for pictures. Oh well, what can we expect from a 3 week old?!

Meet Roman...

Introducing Roman....

This has taken wayyy too long...we are very excited to introduce the newest Lunt.....

Roman Darin Lunt was born Wednesday, November 7th at 3:52 am. He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and is 21 inches long. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. He is soooo cute and we are all thrilled that he's here!