It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Here in our house, we are getting more and more ready for Christmas. We put the trees up two weeks ago. As I mentioned, the one in the boys' room is interesting...and actually still standing! We received Natalie's stocking in the mail last week, so hanging that made a nice addition to our decorations. Matthew and Lucas got their Advent calendars from Grandma Patty last week. She buys them the big, "official" ones from World Market, and this year they got a playmobil one, too. That ended up in fights, as to who got what toy and who got to open the flap each day. So, we finally gave in and just opened the whole thing and added it to the playmobil collection. Tomorrow is their Christmas performance at school. They are under strict instructions to get "decked out"..good thing they each have one dressy outfit...since we wear jeans to church most of the time, their dress clothes collection has drastically fizzled in the last few years. They actually got dress shoes that I ordered from Kohl's in the mail yesterday...right on time for their performance and they fit! Guess that means they have to quit wearing their crocs to church and every other function that requires their khakis. Our Christmas plans are getting more and more finalized...where we are going and when. The only thing left is stocking stuffers and getting them to see Santa. Of course, Natalie is growing so quickly! She's going to be 7 weeks on Friday. She's having some seriously fussy evenings...like crying and holding her breath...so we are thinking acid reflux. She's starting a prescription tomorrow...hopefully that will make things better. Today I found out that as of next Monday I will be considered "full time" at work. Up until now I was being paid at the tutoring hourly rate for 3 hours and then a sub rate for 3 hours. This was because the lady who was there before me was on disability and was unsure if she was returning after the first of the year. She resigned as of today, so that moves me to full time pay and insurance. Yeah! This past weekend was Derrick's installation at Atonement Lutheran in Columbus. He's now the pastor of missions/outreach down there. Not much at Living Truth changes...he still pastors here, but Atonement has adopted our church plant and will be supporting it in so many awesome ways. His friend, Matt Hoffman (Oswald's grandson) preached a fabulous message at his installation. Next Sunday, the 13th, is Natalie's baptism. I am excited because I invited our neighbors, who don't go to church, for the service. She said they are coming! I really hope so!

Our Thanksgiving

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. But, it was amazing! Derrick's mom had a surprise for all of us. She got a day pass from Dodd Hall for Derrick's dad to come home for the day. He got to see Natalie, and he held her almost all day. The boys were SO relieved to see that grandpa was feeling better, could talk to them, and could get up and walk around. He did sit in his rocking chair almost all day, but he was so glad to be there, as we were all so glad he was there. The original plan was that we would eat a quick lunch and then head down to the hospital. There is a visiting area and we were planning on taking the kids in for a little bit. But, much to my relief, we didn't have to go down to the hospital. I don't mind hospitals, but taking my kids to one is a different story. Later in the evening, we went to my cousin's house. He has totally redone the inside and outside of an older home in Marysville, and this was sort of a housewarming for him also. We had a gingerbread house making contest (yes, adults...my mom and aunts come up with quite the activities)....and then made our way home to get the kiddos to bed. Black Friday was spent at home, shopping online. I have to say that we get a lot of our shopping done that way. It's so nice! Over the weekend, we also put up our Christmas trees. We have the big, 10 ft., one in the living room, and this year the boys got a 6 ft one for their bedroom. They went at it, and the ornaments are in some interesting places. I think it's funny that they put their three or four favorites (each) on the bottom branches, so there is a section that sags almost to the floor. Oh well. Two weekends ago, it was in the 60s, so Derrick and Lucas put our lights up outside. Matthew wanted nothing to do with the ladder, so he managed the Christmas lights on the ground. He finished, after the trees, with the garland, and now our house is done.

It's finally starting to turn cold..but even so we are having highs in the 50s. On Saturday the Rausch ladies got together for tea. It was also a surprise baby shower for Natalie and I. Sunday was church and I went to get a few things at Bath and Body Works for Christmas gifts. Derrick had his first time staying home with all three kiddos alone. He did great, of course. Looking ahead, this Wednesday night is church decorating, and that is the most excitement I think we'll have this week. This weekend is our church cookie exchange and Derrick's installation at Atonement...I am really looking forward to that celebration! I'll be getting our Christmas cards out this week. I did them on Shutterfly this year, and they turned out really nice. Natalie is five weeks old, and proving to be slightly high maitenance at a young age. Oh well...like my mom says, "I hope you have a child just like you someday". She is growing, and starting to coo and make such cute noises. I have to go back to work next Monday. I'm not too excited about it, but only two weeks and Christmas vacation will be here!

A Discussion

Last night, while we were having our bedtime snuggles, Matthew struck up quite the conversation with us. He, out of the blue, said he didn't want to go to college. I said that he needed to think about it a little more, and then he started a list of jobs he wanted to have, hoping none of them would lead to college. After every one..a policeman, a space man, a cook, an army man...the list goes on, we said that each of those involved some type of education. Not sure why we were carrying this conversation, but we indulged him anyway. Well, after a few more minutes, we got to the bottom of the issue. He said, with teary eyes and a shaky face, "I don't want to go to college because you can't see your mommy there!" That's my boy! I told him that I could come and visit, or if he wanted to go to OSU that he could live at home and drive his own car to college everyday, only to return back here at home to see me everyday. How sweet is that! It didn't exactly pacify his desire to get out of going to college, but I think his reason is great! I'm anxious to see what this conversation turns into in about 10 years.

Halloween 2009

This year for Halloween, Matthew and Lucas decided to be Bumblebee and Optimus Prime from Transformers.
Their costumes were very cute, and of course they had to act like Transformers, too. Matthew, as Bumblebee, would run around and fight the bad guys, then ball himself up into a "car" and take off. Too funny. For trick-or-treat, my parents, grandma, Derrick's mom, Darragh, Daniel and Emily, and Lindsey came over to help hand out candy and take the boys around. Derrick and I walked with them for the first 15 minutes or so, then I needed to go back home and sit down. I was hoping to get a good walk in, but one week post delivery my body was telling me otherwise. Oh well. I got comfy in a lawn chair and a blanket, and Lindsey and I sat and handed out candy. Patty (Derrick's mom) and my mom took turns taking the boys out for more candy. Of course, they came home with a ton. It was cold this year for Halloween...I made the boys wear hats and gloves, so we were out of candy and inside a little after seven. In fact, several houses around us had already gone inside around that time, too. We usually last until 8, but we only had 257 pieces of candy to hand out this year, and when we were out, we were out. My grandma took care of sitting in the kitchen window to watch the trick or treaters and hold Natalie. She was more than happy to do so. We had our usual soups, bread and cookies and we all hung out until around 9 or so. Thankfully the next day was a Sunday. Derrick was on "vacation", so we all stayed home from church. The boys (all 3 of them) played video games, I played card games with Matthew and Lucas, and we just enjoyed being home together.



Friday, the boys had their fall party at school. Derrick stayed home with Natalie so I could go and be at their party with them. They were allowed to wear their costumes for the party, and they opted to wear their Annakin and Obi-Wan costumes from last year. Then, they have a little costume parade around the school and back to the room for their party. It was very cute. They each had a plate of goodies waiting for them, and a sugar cookie with icing and various candies to decorate it like a pumpkin face. It was surprisingly quiet in that first grade classroom while they ate their snacks and quietly chatted at their tables.



Natalie is growing! She had her first well check on Tuesday and she is up to 7 lbs. 15 oz, and 19 1/2 in. long. She was 19 in at birth, and weighed 7 3 when we left the hospital. She is doing well with sleeping and eating, and is only getting up twice at night...around 1 or so and then around 5. Derrick is so awesome with getting up with her, or sometimes staying up to do the one o'clock feeding and then putting her down and I get up at the next one. We had a few outings this week...Kroger, Panera, and Target. Overall, it was a great week.

Changes

Since I last updated, much has changed in our house and family. First, Derrick has been called as an outreach pastor at Atonement Lutheran in Columbus. This comes from several months of our church and his call here being under distress because of budget reasons. We had a few options--he getting a call somewhere else, our church moving into a different space (or have no space at all), or Atonement "adopting/merging" with us at Living Truth. Thankfully, they voted to go with merging with us. This gives our family peace, Derrick's call stability, and our church a refocus. Second, Derrick's dad is in the hospital with adult respritory distress as a result of H1N1 that then moved to pneumonia and now to this. You can visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/keithhurst to get the whole story and updates. Derrick updates this site when his mom calls with updates from the hospital. Third, Natalie Grace Keitha Hurst was born Friday the 23rd at 3:45 pm. She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz and was 19 in. long. It was a different delivery experience than I had with the boys, and needless to say there is more to the labor and delivery story...but some details are better left for conversaton/emails as opposed to on our blog or facebook:). We are trying to settle into a routine and trying to manage being parents of three kids. Let's just say that the boys are SO helpful, love to touch her and get right in her face to talk to her...I'm so glad they are in school all day. They have been getting out ABC, number, and sight word flashcards and teaching her some words. I'm thankful they are so into her, but I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon. Who knows. I'm off until the beginning of December, will go back to work for about 2 weeks, then be off for Christmas break. Thanks for checking on us. Enjoy the pictures!

First Grade

Matthew and Lucas have been in first grade for exactly a week now. WOW! Last Tuesday, we went to Open House to walk around the school, Northwood Elementary, and meet their teacher. The school is gorgeous, the classrooms are spacious, and everyone we met was very nice. Miss Fisher, their teacher, is very enthusiastic and very nice. I felt better after we left the Open House. I had seen where they eat, the playground, how near the bathrooms are to their room, etc. All that important mommy stuff. Then Wednesday came. Their first day of school. I stayed home from work in the morning so we could all four go together to get them to their room. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, got our school clothes on, and were out the door. We had to wait a few minutes inside the door until the bell rang and the kids were dismissed to their rooms. Matthew and Lucas were very excited, and a little nervous. Lucas said he could feel the butterflies floating around his tummy. Up until this day, he had been complaining of his tummy hurting off and on, and not eating much. Both very NONTYPICAL of Lucas. I had it figured out it was nerves. So, we began the walk to the room. I was holding Matthew's hand and Derrick was holding Lucas's. We found their spot at their table, and put their backpack in their cubby. All was great until I bent down to say good-bye to Matthew. He looked very apprehensive and like he was holding back his tears. So, of course, that's when I started to get a little weepy. I hugged and kissed him and told him to have a great day, then went to Lucas's seat. I bent down to hug and kiss him and could barely get it out because I was really starting to cry. They had some work on their desk and started right to it, and we left. As soon as I walked out of the room, I was sobbing. Of course, my level headed husband says they'll be fine, etc., but that didn't help any. I dropped Derrick off at home to get his truck and left for work. I sobbed almost all the way to work...about a 20 minute drive. I was really sad that they were doing something without me, and that they were in a "strange" place. Oh well. Of course, I was very eager to pick them up. As soon as they spotted me in the line, they waved like crazy. As soon as they got in the car, before I could even ask, Lucas said, "School was great!" Matthew totally agreed and it's been great so far. They are coming home from school so happy and can tell me so much about their day. I think my favorite thing so far is what happened the first day. Miss Fisher read them a book called "The Kissing Hand". In it, the raccoon is nervous/sad about leaving his mom on the first day of school. So, she kisses the palm of his hand and he puts it to his cheek during the day to comfort him. Everyday since then, Matthew has asked me to kiss his palm either before bed or before I leave in the morning. Yesterday I asked him if he wanted me to kiss his hand, and he said, "No, I still haven't used the one you gave me yesterday."


We've had several more showings on our house, but no offers yet. We signed to build with Dominion last week, and the digging starts in October. Hopefully we'll sell our home and be able to move on. If not, it's not what God wants us to do right now. He's never let us down before, and He is only working for our good. So, we'll see.

Miss Natalie is moving a lot, and I've been rather uncomfortable the last few weeks. I told Derrick I feel like Violet on Willie Wonka...the little girl who ate too much and swelled up. We start soccer this week, and then add karate and scouts next week. It's busy, but it's kind of nice, too.

A Week of Fun...

This past week was a "Week of Fun" at Grandma Patty's (Derrick's mom's) for the boys. It started Sunday after church, and they returned them to church the past week. They had great fun..playing on the Bonzai Waterslide in the backyard, playing a lot of Wii, eating whatever they want, staying up late...you know, the usual grandma and grandpa stuff. They also had a great day at Kings Island with the grandparents and saw Aliens in the Attic. Matthew lost his second tooth while they were there, and he has been sleeping pull-up free since they came home!! YEAH!! They were so exhausted Sunday night that they fell asleep snuggling with me on the couch. I have to say, that was great, as that hasn't happened in forever!

While they were at grandma and grandpa's, Derrick and I enjoyed our time together. We had dinner when we could actually talk to each other. He took me to Doc's Bakery for breakfast one morning, and I totally love the place. He works from there a day or two a week, and I've been wanting to check it out. We went to lunch at First Watch, dinner to Old Bag of Nails, and lunch at Doc's Bakery. It was great! We also met with the rep from Dominion, and decided to build a home in Mill Valley North. Our timeline with merging with Atonement has moved up, and we feel this is a good decision, so we're looking forward to that. It will probably be the beginning of September or so by the time we get all the ducks in a row.

I spent most of the days while they were at grandma and grandpa's working on backpacks. Back in July, we started a supply drive to get school supplies to needy kids. We collected 171 backpacks and tons of supplies. We sent out about 200 invitations to needy families, and it was a great success! On Saturday, it was supposed to start at 3:00. Of course, we had families lined up around 2:30, and by 2:45, the entrance to our church was FULL of people, with the line going out the door. Not only did we give away backpacks and supplies, but Premier Salon Concept out of Dublin donated their time and services to give the kids nice haircuts. I can't even describe how awesome it was to see the stylists working on each kid. They didn't just trim, either. They styled and braided, curled, straightened, moussed, gelled, etc. The kids looked great! They had a huge spring in their step when they left with their stylish cut and new backpack. We ended up giving away about 100 backpacks, and a little over 100 haircuts.

So, that was our week. This is our last week before school starts. I start as an Instructional Aide on the 25th, and my little buddies are off to first grade on the 26th. My pregnancy is going well. Let's just say that my insides seem to have turned into a trampoline, pommel horse, etc. She's moving A LOT, and I'm in the third trimester. Before we know it, we'll have a littl girl in the house!