So Sleepy part II

We are in a fun stage, if K takes a nap, even if it's 20 minutes, she has a very hard time falling asleep.  I have discovered that if I let her kind of do her own thing, she falls asleep much earlier than if I fight her to lay down.  I'm sure this goes against every parenting rule out there, but sometimes, you do what gets  you through...right?

The past two Saturdays, K has had really good naps, so late Saturday night, she has been up.  Two weeks ago she was antsy and couldn't sit still.  She found the towel closet and was playing in it, and then what do you know....she fell asleep. (Please pay no attention to the very embarrassing towel closet that appears in these pictures.  I know what I'm working on today!)


This past Saturday, I had hurt my back a bit, but K was wanting to sit on my lap, which is normally fine, but it was killing my back.  I tried to get her to just lay her head in my lap, or sit next to me on the couch.  She said I was rude and stomped off to her new favorite pouting spot, the bottom stair.  Pretty soon....we found.....


This morning, the big kids went back to school after a 4 week track break.  She woke up with them, but wasn't quite ready to get up so fell back to sleep on the couch.  I found her like this....

 Maybe I should take her to a sleep therapist?!?!?!?!

So Sleepy

I have been meaning to post this for a very long time.  K is a crazy sleeper, she will, and does sleep anywhere.  I'm pretty sure she has taken more naps in the Sam's Club shopping cart then in her own bed.  She falls asleep in the car, and as you can see, she falls asleep in just about any position.

The Brother of Girls

S is the perfect boy to have only sisters.  He is calm and patient.  He is not afraid to do typical girl things. He'll play dolls, house, color, etc.  How many (almost) 9 year old boys would let his sisters do this:

You can only test the patience for so long!  He's got his limits!

My View

I love the view out of my kitchen window!  It was a HUGE selling point.  It is one of the many reasons I fell in love with this home.  The sunrise most mornings is STUNNING, and on many nights the sunset is fantastic too!  While doing the dishes, I love to look out at watch the clouds.  In the spring and summer, I watch the hills turn green.  In the fall, it's fun to watch for the different patches of colors change.  

At one point, I thought about taking a picture out my window everyday at the same time, just to document how beautiful it is, but I quickly found out I'm not home at the same time everyday very often (well at lease when the sun is up).  

I'm afraid I might be losing my view and it's making me crazy.  The lot next to us is vacant, and is bank owned.  The bank has had it for sale for a couple of years now, but very few people have looked into.  It's kind of a goofy lot, and someone is going to have be creative to get a decent house/yard onto it.  The last couple of weeks a cute couple has been stalking the lot, and a few others on our street as well, but the other day they were spotted measuring things out, and there are stakes in a few spots.  While I'm happy to welcome new neighbors, and happy that the weeds will go away, it is kind of sad to think about losing the view, and the extra playground for the kids.  Do you think they would listen to my very specific requests/demands of how I think they should place their house and yard and driveway???  

Anyways....just for fun, here are a few photos I've snapped in the last months.  

 Well alright, not all of theses were taken outside my kitchen window, but I LOVE amazing sunsets!  So I shared!

Happy Birthday M!!

Happy Birthday to my fantastic, beautiful, confident, sweet, helpful, loving, smart, organized, dancing, funny, tech-ie eleven year old!

M has been SO excited for her birthday!  We have all known how many days until her birthday for a couple of months. We're so happy we get to celebrate with her today (and tonight, and last night, and Friday, and Saturday).

I'm so proud of the young lady M is becoming.  She is a confident gal (I don't know what to call her, she isn't a little girl, maybe a tween...I'm at a loss).  She LOVES fashion.  Before I leave the house, I have to get M's approval on the outfit choice.  One of her favorite shows is Project Runway.  In her free time, she is designing outfits and shoes and handbags.  She has created some pretty cute things.  Hopefully one day she will be able to learn to sew and make something from all of her designs.

M loves anything to do with technology.  She loves her iPod touch, and Nana's iPad.  She desperately wants a cell phone and a laptop of her own.  She is very computer savvy and navigates her way around the internet finding what ever she needs (yes, I now resort to asking her for help..it's sad).

M is a humongous help around the house.  She loves to play with her little sisters and will take them upstairs to play when I'm needing to get things done.  She loves to babysit and is always willing to do so.  It's so nice to have her around when I need to run to the store, or we need a date night.  She is very responsible, and the kids love her to babysit!

M is doing fantastic in school.  Her work is very neat, she has discovered that it's easier to finish the work ahead of time rather than wait for the last minute, so she is usually a few days ahead of her school work (we're hoping this habit continues).

M is a beautiful, graceful dancer and is practicing all of the time.  She is learning to play the piano and guitar, and she loves to sing.  She also likes to play soccer, run, ski, swim, and  play volleyball!

M is 5'1",  and still growing like a weed, and is wearing a size 9 in womens shoes.  This is our biggest challenge at the moment.  Finding shoes that are age appropriate (especially dress shoes) that she approves of is next to impossible.  If I had a kazillion dollars, I'd start a shoe line for tweens, design shoes that are cute and stylish, but that won't make them look like they are 25.  We would make shoes for the small footed tween, and the large footed tween, and everyone in between.  I HATE buying shoes for myself (because of the skis I have) and the only thing I'm finding I dislike even more is buying shoes for M!

M, I am so happy you are my daughter. I am so proud of who you are, and what you are becoming!  I hope today was  fantastic day for you! Love You Tons!--Mom

July 2010

July was a fun family month for us! Jess and her family came for 3 weeks, and spent a few nights at our house, and then Erin and her family came for a week! We had a lot of birthdays, a lot of parties, we had a lot of cousin time. It was so much fun! We miss having everyone together all of the time. B keeps asking when she can go live with Aunt Erin, or when we can move to Arizona. I tell her we'll just keep hoping they all move back soon!

To start the month off, we ran in the annual Murray 4th of July 5k (which was on the 3rd). This year M did it with us! She did awesome. She ran most of the way and finished just over 35 minutes! Not to shabby for her first race, with very little training. S had the job of being the family photographer.

With several Pyro's around here, the 4th always brings about a great party! Fireworks were in abundance, and July proved to have some of the very best sunsets I've ever seen! Talk about some serious "SKY ALERTS!!"

S got to go to Cub Country for 2 days! I told him he'd come home dirty. He said at the end of the day he wasn't dirty enough so he made sure he looked dirty! He had a blast and of course came home with a new pocket knife!

In July, K turned 2!!! Can you believe K is 2? I can't! Where has the time gone? She is such a funny baby! She loves all things girlie, purses, babies, pink, make-up, etc. She loves to have her nails painted and her hair done! She loves dresses, and is getting a darling personality. Whenever daddy leaves, she needs a kiss and a hug, and then demands mom gets one too! She LOVES to play with her big brother and big sisters!

The only show she really watches is "Yo Gabba Gabba!" Which, as the kids say, is like a bad dream! It has crazy characters, and the producers have to be on some sort of "trip", but it mesmerizes her, and once it grows on you, it is pretty cute. They have super cute, and simple songs that the little ones love because they can sing along. So when it came time to make her cake, it was pretty obvious it needed to be a Gabba cake, but of course there are not any cake pans out there yet. So we had to get creative. Other than running out of frosting and time, it turned out alright.


The min-table from Grandpa Alan was a big hit!

The last 3 Hurst grand babies are all 361 days apart. Jacob was born 7/15/07, K was born 7/11/08, and Meg was born 7/7/09. This year we thought it'd be fun to have a 1-2-3 party (but we ran out of days). We had a modified 1-2-3 party, and headed to the lake. Jess had darling shirts made for the 1, 2, and 3 year old (but somehow, I didn't get a picture of all 3 together!!). Jake was on the boat, and by the time he got off the mosquitoes were carrying the small children, and doughnuts away!

One day, long ago, on a total whim, I received an e-mail saying if we stayed the night at the Wynn Hotel in Vegas, we could go to the Garth Brooks concert! I had tried earlier to purchase tickets, but they sold out almost instantly. I had warned R that we were going, but then didn't get tickets the first time around....so the 2nd time around, I didn't even ask! I called, and booked the tickets and hotel within about 3 minutes of getting the e-mail. It happened to be, that they had openings over our 14th anniversary! PERFECT!

We are pretty big GB fans! I think we have just about everyone of his songs on the ipod. The kids can sing along to most of his songs, and his concert was a blast when we went to it, probably 17 years ago!

Plus, we haven't been to visit Erin, or Vegas for several years! The kids have been begging to go, so we packed up the van and we took off to Vegas in the dead of summer! CRAZY! but CRAZY FUN!!!

The kids stayed the first night with us at the Wynn, which is a pretty swanky hotel! S LOVED the automatic curtain opener! M and B loved the floor to ceiling windows, that at night resembled a full length mirror/stage! S also loved the wet bar/snack bar, and figured out that if you removed an item for more that 60 seconds you were charged for it! He was determined to figure out how that was accomplished! The kids also thought the TV in the bathroom, and the phone by the toilet was the best thing they had EVER seen!

We arrived in Vegas late, and after a long drive, R is always starving. All of the resturants were either a)closed or b)too fancy or c)too far through the casino to drag the whole fam, so we ordered...ROOM SERVICE...after watching tons of movies and Disney Channel shows, the kids thought they were pretty high rollers!

The next morning, we got up, had a nice breakfast by the pool, and then went swimming and shopping on the strip. We hit the most important stores...the M&M store, and the Coke store. The kids were then off to spend the night with the Howell's while we went to the concert.

Security was very tight, and it was very clear that pictures would not be allowed...anywhere...so needless to say, we don't have proof that we went to the concert! But we did and it was awesome! I am so glad I reacted to that whim, because if I would have thought about it, I would've convinced myself not to do it, and I am so glad we did. Mr. Brooks did not disappoint! The kids had a blast, and we created tons of memories.

The next morning, R and I packed up and spent the last day with the Howell's as well. We went to the park (splash) and enjoyed the cool, breezy 114* weather. We also drove out to Lake Mead to feed the fish (no pictures, I was concentrating too hard on not melting).

This crazy one didn't want to get in the water so I'm convinced she was melting, because I was. I was seconds away from running into the water fully clothed. But I showed restraint.

After we got home from Vegas, we had yet another birthday party for K, and Alex. More girlie presents!

Then, S and B had a super fun summer treat! They both had their tonsils removed! They were super troopers! It was not fun, pretty miserable for everyone really! They were both so excited to have surgery because they heard you got cool fuzzy socks with rubber on the bottom so you didn't slip. When S saw the socks, he said, "These aren't very cool." Once we got home, they were both offended by the socks and want nothing to do with the socks now.
B had a hard time keeping anything down for the first days, so she slept like this a lot!

We're glad we did the tonsillectomy. S's tonisls were huge, and exploded with puss pebbles when the Dr. removed them (sorry if that's TMI). B had 90% blockage from he adenoids. They both are breathing and sleeping so much better now. It was well worth the long 10 days of recovery!

I'm tired just trying to remember all of July! On top of those fun things, R was at scout camp for 3 days, and then at Youth Conference for 3 days! I'm glad July is over with for a year!