Another Crazy Busy Weekend

Halloween weekend was the second crazy busy weekend for us in a row. Last weekend was Natalie's birthday party, and we followed up with another round of entertaining this past weekend. The boys had their fall party at school, and after much deliberation decided to go as GI Joe. They had a costume parade to end Red Ribbon Week, and Lucas made a super cute banner to hang around his neck. They played Spooky BINGO and loaded up on sugar just to be sent home to their parents. Friday night we had plans to go to Boo at the Zoo, but they were thwarted by Natalie's super late afternoon nap. No big deal, we called in plan B: Pumpkin Carving and seed roasting. I get a small bit of joy as a mother over the strangest things-like when my kids beg for roasted pumpkin seeds this time or year, or when they come home from school and they've eaten all their carrots, but haven't touched their fruit snacks :). The most creative we get with pumpkins is a jack o lantern face, but this year we went one step further. I had a grand scheme to carve each kid's initials in the pumpkin, but that wasn't going to work out. Let's just say, the more square and straight the carving, the better off we all are. So, we decided to make their first letters as the eyes, and just put on a nose and a mouth. Done. I got the lovely job of pulling out the guts and separating the seeds for roasting, while Derrick did the carving. The boys weren't much help-they were engrossed in netflix, GI Joe, Rise of Cobra. Oh well. I tossed the seeds in some oil, sprinkled them with salt and put them in the oven for about 45 minutes. YUM! They crunched on them while watching Star Wars the Clone Wars-their Friday night ritual.

Saturday, I had a major errand running marathon. Derrick made us all pancakes, and I was out the door ASAP to hit the grocery and Sawmill Road. When I go to Dublin, I try to do as much as possible in one day. So, it was Target, Kohls, Meijer, JoAnns, Giant Eagle, and Kroger. Seriously...I didn't get home until about 1:30! I was beat! But, we won't have to go to the grocery for about three months! Since January, I've taken on a new attitude towards couponing, stockpiling, and trying to get the most out of our grocery budget. I try so hard to get the best deals, and return things if I have to when I find them at a lower price somewhere else.

Sunday was the big trick or treat day. Of course, as Lutherans, we also celebrated Reformation Day in church...but let's face it, trick or treat overshadows Martin Luther when you're seven. The day was full of being in the kitchen. I was a cooking fool-and exhausted that night to prove it. I made potato soup before church, two loaves of beer bread, oatmeal muffins, and chicken and noodles. I seriously didn't sit down until about 4 o'clock. Our families arrived around 5:30 to eat and help get the boys in their costumes. I must say, this year's costumes have been my favorite so far. They were Mario and Luigi. They had already decided that Matthew would be Mario and Lucas would be Luigi based on the first letters of their names. Ok...whatever. Well, I ordered the costumes a size too big for layering purposes, and because Luigi was online only at target.com, and that's the size they had. So, that meant the mustaches were too big, too. Thankfully they wore them for a few pictures, then I let them take them off. But they totally made the costumes. Not to be outdone, Natalie was adorable in her poodle costume. She was a trooper for about 45 minutes of trick or treating, then I think her hands were freezing, and she wasn't a fan of being cold. The boys RAN from house to house, as if they were in the video game. In fact, Matthew even said that when they go from street to street, it's like they're going into another world on Super Mario Brothers-that kid and his imagination! While we were out loading the bags with candy, my in laws were at our house helping Derrick pass out fresh hot popcorn and candy. It was a super fun weekend, and the boys were in bed asap-after a serious teeth scrubbing of course!

Natalie's First Birthday

Happy Birthday! We had two firsts this weekend-Natalie's first birthday, and the first time we've had BOTH sides of our families over for a birthday party. Since our house is much bigger now, we were able to have both sides, along with Natalie's godparents, over for her celebration. We had everyone over for pizza, stromboli, and salad. As you can see in the above picture, she had a butterfly cupcake cake, made my my sister Kristin. She also made Matthew and Lucas's first birthday cakes, so it was fitting that she make Natalie's, too. When it was time to blow out her candle, she had plenty of help from Matthew, Lucas, and they're cousin Mabry. She wasn't overly interested in her cake, so we didn't get any smashing pictures of her and she didn't get messy at all. She ate a few bites that we broke off for her, and Derrick tried to get her to eat some but she wasn't overly interested.
She did, however, proceed to tell everyone that she is "So Big!", and when you ask her if she is 1, she puts up her right pointer finger. Too cute! She was most interested in the gifts that came in gift bags, as she could pull out the tissue paper one by one. She lost interest after the first two bags or so, but she had plenty of help. Matthew, Lucas, Mabry, Charlie, and Eliana made sure every gift was opened. She got a lot of clothes and some baby dolls. She LOVES her babies. She also got her first purse, as well as a xylophone and a walk behind/ride on zebra, a stroller, and a Fisher Price piggy bank.

One of the GREATEST blessings our kids have in their lives is that they are growing up around their grandparents and that they have six great grandparents who are still living. All six were here for the party. In the picture above is Natalie with her Hurst side great-grandparents-Omi, Opa, Grandpa and Joyce. In fact, at one point my grandma (Great Ma) and Natalie were snuggling on the couch together playing babies. She had lined up all of Natalie's dolls and stuffed new toys and they were singing Jesus Loves Me. Precious! It was an awesome evening with our families and our friends.

Dear Natalie

Dear Natalie,
Happy Birthday, my sweet girl! I am so thankful to God for you. You are truly an answer to my prayers for a baby girl. I adore your brothers, but a part of me always felt like our family would be complete with a girl. A year ago, you made your entrance into our world on a cool, sunny fall afternoon. I pray that you will have a God filled heart as you grow. I know that you will grow up to be a beautiful, Proverbs 31 woman...who loves her husband, cares for her children, and above all carries Jesus in her heart. I love coming home from work and seeing your smiling face when I walk in the door. You are such a happy baby, and you are friendly to everyone you meet. Your "mama" sounds are very sweet, and when you play patty cake and peek-a-boo (which you played the other night with your pjs while I was readying you for bed) your fun personality shines. Blessings on your birthday, my princess. Jesus loves you.

Love,
Mommy

John Bryan State Park-On A Perfect Fall Day

Sunday we went with my family to John Bryan State Park. Joey and Kristin, Lindsey and Ben, Wesley and Riley, my 82 yr old grandma, and the five of us all picknicked and hiked at the park. It was a BEAUTIFUL, warm, fall day. We all collaborated and brought something to eat. When we got there, we had sandwiches, fruit, and chips and cookies of course. After we fueled up on lunch, the kids found a fallen log to explore. It had obviously been climbed on a lot because there were many spots that were very smooth. Too fun. They happily climbed and walked from one end to the other over and over again.

Matthew picking the burrs out of his shoes after the hike.
After we were done eating and ready for a walk, we hit a trail. It took us back to our Colorado days when Derrick and I would spend hours on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the mountains, far away from the city and hiking while enjoying God's creation. The colors were starting to peak, and the leaves were crunchy and the air was warm.

We came to the bottom of a hill to what I think was the Little Miami River. Anyway, this made for a lot of great entertainment-the kids threw rocks in the water while the adults took pictures and talked.

Lucas throwing in the biggest rock he could find.

We hiked on for awhile, and after an hour or better, Grandma decided she was ready to go back. So, back we went to our picnic spot. We had a snack, the kids climbed on the log some more, and the kids engaged in a "kids vs. Ben and Grandpa" game of baseball. Too fun.

Matthew and Lucas down by the river.

I love these times with my family-when all of us get together and hang out for the day, not worrying about what we have to do, or getting to work on Monday. It was a perfect fall day!

The Birthday Preparations

Happy girl! She knows her birthday is coming!


Natalie's first birthday is upon us-in 5 days, my baby will be one. Needless to say, I've been preparing and listmaking for this party for about two weeks now. I LOVE my kids' birthdays. I love celebrating them and that they made me a mommy. I get excited to plan around the theme, and this one is no exception. Her theme is butterflies. So, we invested in the Hugs and Stitches baby girl first birthday party plates, cups, etc. My sister, Kristin, is going to make an amazing butterfly cupcake cake. Of course, the birthday girl needs a birthday outfit, right? I scoured the internet for days, looking for the perfect party dress. I found tons of dresses that were adorable, but when I wanted to personalize it, that was going to cost me an arm and a leg. So, I decided to do it myself. I"ve been a bit craftier lately-branching out of my scrapbooking zone by making a shelf for Natalie's room, as well as two bow boards, a birthday banner, and now her birthday shirts. They're nothing overly fancy, but I"m proud. They are both longsleeve onesies with iron-ons I found at JoAnns. One has a large cupcake with a rhinestone number 1 on it. The other has an "N" with a cupcake on each side. Super cute, and reasonable. But the piece de resistance is the tutu.

Natalie exploring her birthday tutu!
My cousin, Chelsey, makes adorable headbands, hats, and tutus. Of course I commissioned her to make Natalie's birthday tutu, and adorable it is! Natalie loved playing with it, and looked A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E in it for her first birthday pictures. Can't wait for her birthday party this weekend. It will be the first birthday party we've had in years with both sides of our family present-because our house is big enough! Pizza, stromboli, salad, cake, and ice cream will add to the fun!
"Look at my fun tutu"!

The Weekend of Nothing...

Matthew and his pretzel.


I waited and waited for the weekend of the 8-10th to come, because that was the weekend we had NOTHING...except soccer and church. I was so excited because I was going to get a ton of stuff done around the house, bake, and enjoy being home. Well, it finaly happened. Friday night we had yummy grilled pizza. Always a family favorite in our house, and a Friday night tradition. Saturday we only had soccer, then we were home together for the rest of the day. So, I decided I was going to try my hand at homemade pretzels. After I mixed up the dough, it was done rising and ready to be used after supper.
Derrick and Matthew making pretzels.

So, we pulled the dough out by fistfuls and started rolling out snakes to shape into pretzels. Derrick and the boys had much fun with this! They all three were so into it, and it was nice to see them doing something fun together.

Lucas and his pretzels
They experimented with different shapes, and of all of us, Derrick's pretzels turned out the best. So, we baked them, and I brushed them with butter then sprinkled them with salt or cinnamon and sugar. YUM! They turned out so awesome and yummy! In fact, Matthew liked the cinnamon and sugar ones so much, he asked for one for breakfast Sunday morning.

We finished our weekend by having Sarah and the kids over for chicken and noodles-which also turned out delicious! While we were outside after dinner, Natalie decided to explore the sidewalk chalk, and ended up looking like a little clown :)

Milestones

Well, we've hit a few milestones in our house these last two weeks, and if I don't blog them now, they may not make it into the Hurst Family archives someday. As much as I love scrapbooking, and am so blessed to have all my stuff out all the time in the "craft" room (aka the spare bedroom, catch-all room, PS2 room...you get the picture), I don't always have time to conciously work on the kids' books. I just started Natalie's in July-and the sweetie will be one next month. Not exactly caught up in my mind. ANYWAY, I digress. Here's what I intended to blog about...last Sunday, the 19, Natalie took two small steps towards Derrick. She's been getting the grasp of standing unassisted-and will even play with a toy or look around and not lose her balance-for a short amount of time, but she actually took two steps. Secondly, Lucas learned to tie his shoes. Of this, I am SO proud...mainly because he picked it up pretty much on his own. Being right-handed, neither Derrick nor myself could effectively model shoe tying to my little lefty. Those were the two most exciting things happening in our house these last two weeks.

I have to brag on the boys a bit. They've started back up with karate in September. We were going to the Y, but it was on Wednesday nights and I don't like taking all three of them to karate, since Derrick has church. He was missing out on watching them, it's a hassle now with the stroller and a moving 11 month old, and I'm missing out on going to Bible study. So, our sensei has his own studio about 20 mins west of Marysville. So, instead of driving 5 minutes to the Y, hauling out the stroller, and keeping Natalie entertained, I decided to give the Bellefontaine dojo a try. It's AWESOME! And, the boys do SO much better! Sensei converted an old country church into a dojo (for those of you unaware of that term, that means karate studio). He has lots of equipment there, as opposed to the Y that is just a big open gym. Also, Matthew and Lucas are in a class of varying talents and skills, so they are being watched by the younger ones and can follow the model of the older ones. Since sensei has mats, and other equipment, sparring is a regular way to spend their time. This is basically one on one grappling/wrestling. Two weeks ago, Matthew was matched up with another boy about his size, and the same skill level. He just went after the kid! Matthew isn't usually so brave, and in fact has cried or been intimidated in other sparring rounds before, so I wasn't sure how he would handle it. He did awesome! Every time the boy would pin Matthew, he would wriggle and kick his way free and pin the other boy down. Eventually after doing this a few times, Sensei tapped them out with Matthew as the winner. So proud! Then Lucas gets against another little boy. He actually took the boy by his shoulders and "threw" him down so the little boy's head landed pretty hard on the mat. They went round and round awhile, and their match ended in a draw. The boys wrestle with Derrick every once in awhile, and not very much with each other-it's usuallyl hitting or kicking and not an intentional wrestling time. But, to get paired up with another kid and "hurt" them is a different story. I'm so proud of them!

Natalie...well, she's too cute and fun. We broke out the OSU cheerleader outfit the last two weekends on game day and she looks so stinkin' cute! I think it's going to be one of her one year picture outfits in a few weeks at Target. She says "mama" so distinctly, and gets so excited with going to Grandma Patty's to see the kitties. It's too cute. She is cruising right along as far as walking along the furniture. And she's finally enjoying a lot of her toys that play music and sing.