Learning to Draw Larry Boy

My Meticulous Matthew.


The Fib from Outer Space, by Matthew

Saturday, late afternoon, our DVD player was acting up. The boys really wanted to watch movies, so I suggested they get out their personal DVD players, choose separate couches and snuggle up and watch the movies. They did, and it was silence for about an hour in our house. So nice. Then, Matthew found a choice on the menu of Larry Boy and the Fib from Outer Space that shows an animator giving step by step directions for drawing the Larrymobile and the Fib. Matthew LOVES to draw. He is always getting paper and cutting out pictures, coloring them, and then putting them in his treasure box. He took his DVD player to the kitchen table, along with a pencil and some paper, and very methodically began to draw. He followed right along with the animator on the movie. Matthew's picture turned out awesome!
The LarryMobile by Matthew.

Matthew is a very step by step person, always wanting to know what comes next. He "begins with the end in mind", a concept they've been taught at school this year. I wish he would be as meticulous about his homework. I'm so proud of him for sitting there-it took about 15-20 mins-and not giving up to make a drawing that looks like he traced it out of a book.

Lucas also got into the drawing. But his technique was a bit different. He watched the whole clip of how to draw, before he even got some paper. After it was over, he got his paper and pencil, and joined Matthew in the drawing fun. Lucas's Fib from Outer Space.
Lucas has great pencil wielding skills-his homework is neat, and he has more patience to sit and draw or write than Matthew. His Larry and Fib turned out awesome. They also look like he traced them out of a book.Larry Mobile by Lucas

Maybe I need to find them an art class?

Nerf Wars

NERF guns for everyone in the Hurst house.


Since we gained two Nerf guns at Christmas-the BIG ones with clips that hold about 12 NERF darts-there have been some wars happening in our house. Now we have accumulated 6 or so NERF guns, so everyone gets one. Even Natalie. She has to be in on the action, you know. It gets loud, and the boys (Derrick included) are running all over the place. Matthew in his full battle gear. The Halloween masks I bought on clearance last year sure come in handy for defense against NERF darts.

They hide in the basement from Derrick, and he waits at the door for them to come up, then shoots at them as they're coming up the steps. He's just as into it as they are. And Natalie laughs at all of them, while I sit and take pictures of the fun.

Natalie At Fifteen Months

Natalie has turned into a toddler-literally! She's fifteen months, and full of fun, energy, and mischief. Here's what she's been doing:

*Sitting down and reading her books. She also brings a book to us and backs herself up into our laps to be read to. So cute!
*Showing she's excited to see us when we get home from work or when we pick her up from the sitter's.
*Saying "by-by" and blowing kisses. She also adds a "mwah" when she blows kisses.
*Giving a squeeze-aka, putting her arms around our neck and squeezing us.
*Her pointer finger is getting a workout. She will point to something that catches her eye and say "oooh".
*Using words like "nana" for banana, "bah" for bottle, mommy, and daddy are very pronounced, too.
*Following directions. When we ask her to go get her shoe, or find a baby, or get her pacifier, she will go and get it, and bring it back to us.
*She's so funny-when Matthew and Lucas are laughing about something, she giggles and laughs with them. Like she gets the joke :)
*Eating so well. She likes almost anything we give her. I'm so thankful for that. Her FAVORITE food right now is bananas. She eats at least one a day.
*Drinking out of a straw.
*She will unload a cabinet, toybox, or open drawer in a matter of seconds. I put this skill to good work by having her unload the dryer for me while I fold clothes in the laundry room. Such a mommy's helper.
*She loves music, and will dance to anything-especially Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (our vacation is going to be SO fun this year if her love of Mickey keeps up), and music in church.

Christmas Cookies and Friends

A new Christmas tradition was started last year with the Hursts and the Larsons. Sarah and I needed a "break", and something for our kids to do. They were severely inflicted with cabin fever, so I invited Sarah and the kids over to decorate sugar cookies. This year, we got together again during the last few days of Christmas break to decorate again. I made the cookies a few days ahead of time, picked up some goodies to sprinkle on them, and whipped up some icing while the kids played. They were so cute icing and sprinkling the cookies this year. Eliana..the only girl in the group...was so girlie and careful about her sprinkles. Matthew and Lucas were all about speed and icing/decorating asap so they could partake of the goodies, and Noah was under the impression that the more sprinkles he had on his cookie, the better.
Eliana carefully decorating a bell.
Matthew and Noah
I think Noah sneaked a lick of his icing :)..or he's in deep thought.
Lucas likes decorating the stars the best.
Matthew slathering on the icing.

We love getting our kids together. I hope this tradition continues for many Christmases.

Christmas 2010

Christmas was tiring, fun, busy...and so that's why I'm just now getting around to posting about it-because it was overwhelming and the thought of recapping is overwhelming, too. Here's the rundown:

December 24: Christmas Eve celebration at Omi and Opa's around lunchtime. We had the traditional German rouladden (basically cube steaks wrapped around a small pickle), mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and fruit. So good. We opened gifts and played until it was time to go to church. Matthew, Natalie, and Lucas looking all dressed up for Christmas Eve.
The boys were SO excited about the Hot Wheels RC cars they got-and they are very cool. They fold up and fit flat in your pocket. We talked, laughed, and ate some more. Then we headed to church at seven. It was probably one of the most beautiful Christmas Eve services I've ever been to. Afterwards, we went back to Omi and Opa's so the Lawsons could open their gifts-and the rest of us watched. We ordered pizza, and hung out a little longer. It snowed a bit, making it pretty. Around 9 it was home to bed and put out cookies for Santa. Derrick and I were up until about 11 putting together the Weeble house, putting batteries in various toys like the Dance Star Mickey, and stuffing stockings.

Lucas opening his remote control Hot Wheels at Omi and Opa's.

December 25: Christmas morning, Lucas was up at 6, so I encouraged him to go back to bed, telling him it was the "middle of the night". It worked..kind of. We were up at 6;30, and the kids were up around 7. Opening stockings was pacifying enough to get them through church. Lucas was SUPER excited about the mini screwdriver, as well as other small tools in his stocking, and Matthew was excited about the LEGO Battles DS game and his new jibbitz. Natalie was excited about the Mickey Mouse board books she found in hers. Derrick gave me a beautiful, handstamped necklace with the kids' names on it. Love it. Then, it was off to church. After church, considering the kids didn't do too badly knowing there were gifts waiting to be opened, we headed home for the rest of the festivities. It was a LEGO Christmas for the boys...Atlantis, Star Wars, and City. They were pretty good sports about the clothes they got, too. Natalie was uber excited (as was I) about the Dance Star Mickey. She LOVED it. Her reaction was priceless. And it was a Little People Christmas for Natalie. We spent the rest of the day..until about 4 opening gifts, putting together LEGOS, and enjoying being home together. Then, around 5, it was off to Grandma Mae's. All the little cousins-Mae, Lucas, Riley, Matthew, Natalie, and Charlie
Another fun evening...my mom assigned parts to each child for the nativity, and they acted it out. Matthew was the innkeeper, Lucas was Joseph, and Natalie was a sheep, but from my lap. More gifts, more eating...then finally home to bed.

Lucas and Matthew with the Build a Bears they picked out for each other.
The Carfrey Family

December 26th: Christmas at Grandma Barb's. Yep, Christmas number 4. We headed to Grove City for a late lunch after church (yes, third day in a row of church)...and did our gift card exchange and enjoyed spending time with Grandma and the cousins I don't see very often. Afterward, it was back to Marysville...for the Carfrey (my side) Christmas.
Natalie have story time with Grandma Connie
We hosted Mom, Dad, Joey, Kristin, Lindsey, Ben and his kids for the evening. Thank goodness for Giant Eagle party trays and "everyone bring a little something". Ahh...more gift opening. Our living room looked like gifts were taking over. In fact, the boys stacked their gifts into towers before opening, and stood beside them-almost their height. Matthew excited about his stash.
Lots of fun toys-a disgusting science experiement kit, a coin bank (wooden and they had to put it together..good use for the boys' new tools they got in their stockings), Natalie got her first tea set (Fisher Price). Then it was crash into bed for a few days rest.

Lucas's pile was about as tall as he was.

January 1st: Hurst Family Christmas was an all day (literally from noon til about 8:30) affair. It was ALL toys from Grandma and Grandpa Hurst for the boys. Pillow pets...I knew they wanted them, but not that bad. Cousin picture-Natalie, Matthew, Lucas, Skyler, and AnnaMarie
And Grandma delivered...each grandchild got one-the boys each a bear and Natalie a kitten. Playmobil, GI Joe, and the Walking ATAT were enough to keep the boys entertained for the rest of the night.

Matthew and Lucas with their much awaited ATAT from Grandma and Grandpa.
Derrick and I got some super nice wall hangings, an over the door garage storage unit. And I was SO excited about my Cricut that my in laws gave me. We had tacos, rum cake, amaretto hot chocolate, and other yummies-my father in law makes the best Chex Mix and caramel corn...After the opening-which took a long time because the packages are numbered and we have to draw, and search for the number, then give it to the person it's for....we were ready for home.

Natalie and the life size baby from the Lawsons. It's seriously huge.

Gifts Times Two

I have a lot of blessings by being a mom of twins. One of them I LOVE is getting two homemade Christmas presents that they make at school. I don't know if my Christmas would be the same without them. Seriously. I tear up every year when Matthew and Lucas come home with their gifts made at school. Even better is that Derrick and I don't have to share-we each get one! In Preschool is was the traced hand ornament with their picture on it, Kindergarten was a painted coffee mug, and first grade was a wreath made out of their hands with their picture in the middle. This year it is an ornament made out of MiniWheats, molded and mixed together with glue then shaped into a circle. I know for certain that Matthew wasn't excited about making it. That is enough to make me love it even more. I can see him sitting at his desk, while all the other kids are getting messy and molding/mixing, with his hands up as if the teacher was asking him to touch a snake. He does not like things that feel funny, and mini wheats mixed with glue is high on that list. Part of the process was breaking up and crushing the MiniWheats before molding. To avoid touching this, he told me he put it in a bag and sat on it.

In Kindergarten, they were all about hiding the coffee mugs under their beds until Christmas. This year, Matthew wanted me to open it ASAP when he got in the door. I managed to put it off...trying to wait until Christmas, encouraging him to hide it, wait until Daddy gets home...but nothing worked. Finally after dinner, he asked me nicely to open it and so I did. He even included a letter-they're learning about friendly letters in school.

His letter says: "Dear Mommy, I love you. You are the best mom! You are the 'allsomest' (read awesomest) mom ever! Love, Matthew

When Derrick got home, Lucas asked him to open it. Lucas's approach was different. Since it was for the "family" tree, he thought he should help Derrick open it, and the letter inside was "Dear Family....". So cute! Matthew's wrapping paper-a cross with Jesus on it.

And the topper on all of it, is the homemade wrapping paper. I loved how excited and proud they were to give us a gift. It showed their sweet side! The front of his paper bag-a heart, and nice coloring!

Feeling Like Christmas

It's feeling more like Christmas! We had a nice little snow fall Thursday night, and into Friday. That caused a two hour delay for some schools here, including Alder and Marysville. Friday night we invited my parents to go to the zoo lights with us. Oh so fun! Dad, Natalie, Matthew, Lucas, and Mom

We ate at Applebee's before we headed to the zoo. The boys were SO squirmy and impatient while we were waiting..but they were obviously hungry...they can't go 5 minutes without eating lately...or so it seems. They, and Natalie, chowed down on their food, we talked with my parents for awhile, and after a bathroom break we were out the door. We arrived at the zoo around 7:15. It was super crowded. I give credit for how crowded it was to two things-it was a Friday night, AND it was in the upper 30s/low 40s..which is very warm for a night at the zoo lights. This visit was a huge contrast from last year-it was SUPER cold, Matthew was whiny and wouldn't pose, and Lucas wanted to be in every picture. Matthew and Lucas with the peacock.

This time it was "warm", and Matthew posed for almost every photo. This year, all the lights are LED, which made it so much prettier. Derrick had a "God" moment while we were walking in. He was "praying"/thinking to himself that he wished we had some cash with us because hot chocolate sounded good. Well, I was behind him, as always, with the boys, and Matthew stumbled over a piece of paper. I thought it looked like a dollar, and I picked it up. It was $20! I looked around to see if anyone was frantically looking for cash they had dropped, and there wasn't anyone. So, I put it in my pocket. I told Derrick about it. That is when he told me about his "hot chocolate prayer". Too funny! Derrick and I enjoying our hot drinks-provided by God!

We walked around, looked at the lights, had the kids pose for pictures, and Matthew had his first hot chocolate, we had hot lattes and cider, and we all shared a warm pretzel. I think Natalie had the best time..so bundled in her stroller that the poor baby couldn't move! It was a good night!