Christmas Greetings

We did our Christmas Cards a little different this year.  For those of you not on our mailing list (if you want to be let me know).  Here is what we did. This is the picture we sent.

 And here is the poem we sent with it.

I Spy the Hurst Family

I spy a little frog book

And a family picture that was took.

I spy a gymnast girl

And a tutu to twirl.

I spy a book for energy that’s renewable

And a picture of a preschool girl.

I spy a dress that caused some commotion

And some captain bars for promotion.

I spy a baby shoe

And a toy to chew.

Kaylee was born this year on Feb 2^nd.  She is growing way to fast and loves to explore.

Lily started preschool and speech therapy this year.  She is still in gymnastics and loves it.

Erin started kindergarten and is a reading machine.  She still enjoys going to ballet/tap.

Liz is busy being a mom and has been severely bitten by the crafting/sewing bug this year.

James has been busy with school, work and military.  He enjoyed some time in Morocco this year and was promoted to a captain.

We have had a wonderful blessed year. If you want to stay updated you can check out our family blog at jameslizhurst.blogspot.com.

 We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

I have to share this picture too, cause I spied something super cute!

ps. everything in the picture explains our family or our year so if you have any questions let me know :)

A Year of Funnies

I have gone through all my face book status' of this year and many of them are funny things my children have said this year.  So to make these funny memories more permanent I am going to share them here.  I might share some that are just plain good memories too.

Erin:
-I got a new dessert cookbook.  Erin wanted to know all the recipes.  When I cam across one that had coffee in it Erin exclaimed "Coffee is bad for you.  It will make you smoke."
-Erin was playing pretend like she was a mad queen and yells out "I am so mad!  Exclamation!
-Erin decided she wanted to make her own PB&J.  She worked really hard on it.  3 bites into it she said -"Mom, I am not an expert lunch maker like you are."
-Erin asked for a pet chameleon. I asked her why she wanted one and she replied she wanted to watch it change colors.  I then asked her if she wanted to clean it poop and feed it live crickets.  She thought about it for a moment then replied "Mom you can help!"
-Erin's quote of the day. "Butterflies are my favorite type of flies."
-Erin just informed me she wishes her name was, Pink Rose Flower Hurst.
-Darn you Uncles.  Erin is going around telling Lily to pull her finger.
-Erin had a bad dream last night.  She dreamt she got a cookie dough shake from Grannies and dropped it.
-I gave a talk about Relief Society in church today.  Now Erin is going around playing Relief Society.  At least someone listened :)
Lily:
-I discovered Lily's biggest fear.  Flies.  I am not talking about running from them, I am talking about paralyzed with fear crying and screaming at the top of her lungs.  I feel bad but I can't help but laugh.
-Today Lily dumped a bowl of wheat flour all over her and Erin's bed.  Yesterday it was cups of water.  I guess I should be glad that they weren't on the same day.
-At the risk of sounding like a braggy parent, Lily was the best child in her gymnastics class today.  She is so physically talented.
-Day after Halloween: Lily has a dum dum in each hand and loving life.
-Lily's talking on the phone to daddy, "BOO! BOO! BOO!  Scare you daddy haha."
-Lily wants bubble gum pizza for dinner. Yum
Kaylee:
-Part of motherhood is changing a babies diaper then changing it again 2 minutes later because she's had a blow out.
-There is a little shelf with colored flowers above Kaylee's changing table.  Every time I change her diaper she stares at it and smiles.  I love her smiles.
-I will take Kaylee giggling at my singing as a compliment.
-Kaylee's happy sound, "dadadada".  Kaylee's sad sound, Mmamamamamam"  I think this is unfair :)
James:
-Why I love having girls. My strong military husband just said, " I think this time I will pick Aurora... Oh no I picked the wrong magic princess."
Liz:
-I feel so blessed to have 3 wonderful little girls.  I just don't know how I got so lucky.
-Snuggling with Kaylee, smelling baby breath and kissing baby cheeks.  Can life get any better?
-Today's tip: always keep a few get well cards on display.  that way when company comes over they will think you have been sick and unable to clean.


I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!!

I am human

 
Just deleted my ranting and ravings and I feel much better.  But I will leave the ending b/c that is worth remembering (for me at least.)

I guess the moral is that true thought and love from people is what we need (sing with me "what the world needs now, is love sweet love...")  And whilst I can't change the people around me I can change myself.  I know I have not always been the best friend I should have been to people and I know I haven't given my family all the time and thought they truly deserve from me.  So I am going to try harder to be a little better :)  I am also going to read this talk by President Monson a few more times cause I think I still have a lot to learn from it.

Halloween

I just though I would share our Halloween costumes quickly with you. Erin and Lily were the cutest witches you had ever seen.

 

Erin then used her magical witch powers to turn daddy into a frog.

 And Kaylee was their pet, a black kitty.  She spent her evening in true kitty fashion, napping.

I was a witch as well, but I like to spend my time behind the camera.

The Dirty Dash

This Saturday James participated in a race.  This race was unlike any race I've seen.  It was the Dirty Dash.  Basically he ran 10k through mud and tunnels, and over walls and hay bales.  And at the end he was dirty.  One of the other fun things about it as well is he ran it with my brother so they got enjoy the mud together.

You would never guess what his bib number was.

 I told him that no matter what he could tell people he was #1

Since he was going to play in the mud he decided to look the part.

 What a nice clean pig.

Well they're off.  Up a nice muddy hill to begin with.

A little later they were jumpin over this wall.

Towards the end they got to go down this fun slide.

Here is James and my brother making a mad dash for the end. Okay maybe not so much mad as it was tired.

I can no longer really tell who is who but I think James is climbing out of the mud on the left.

He lost the pig snout but he looks like he's been rolling in the mud.

Yes please shower off before getting in the car.

 Ahh that looks much better.

Well maybe....

Anyways it looked like a totally fun race.  They are doing a 5k in the spring and I think I am going to join that one.

Trapped

The other day was my super big laundry day.  I normally try to do laundry twice a week but I hadn't done it for a week and a half.  So some of my laundry baskets got left down stairs in the chaos and then they got tipped over.  After that a baby thought they looked interesting and crawled over to them.  Then she was trapped.

"Hello momma, I think I am stuck."

"How do I get out of here?"

"Oh wait I think I found it.  See you later."

Lily's in Preschool

So Lily recently started preschool.  She feels way to little to me for this, but I guess it's part of life.  She is going to an excellent preschool and the best part is she gets to go for free.  Unfortunately that's also the worst part.  Lily easily qualifies for speech therapy through the school system.  So along with preschool she goes to speech.  I sure hope starting her this young helps.  Here she is ready to go on her first day.

Here she is outside her classroom door.  She was so excited to go in I couldn't get her to look at me.

 Along with preschool and speech she also gets to ride the bus.  She was even more excited to ride the bus than she was for preschool..

Fun at the State Fair

I love the fair.  Something about it excites me like I am a little girl again.  So naturally I have to take my kids to the fair right?  And on Saturday Sept. 11th we got in for free with the military.  So my parents and my sister and her family all packed up and went.  I loved it (and hated it too).  Saturday was just super busy and we got their later than we wanted to.  But there were some really good fun parts so I am choosing to remember those not the stressful chaotic parts.  So here are some fun things we did.
They had this awesome exhibit for kids that was super fun and cute. The girls put on little aprons and gathered a basket.

Then they fed a cow and milked him.

They picked apples from trees.

Then planted and harvested from a garden.

They rode tractors.

And so much more like sheering a sheep and gathering eggs.  At the end they turned in all the things they reaped from their farm and got a "dollar" which they then went to the "store" and bought a treat. 
If you ask Erin and Lily what their highlight was they will tell you it was the Ferris wheel.  Erin saw one at a little fair early this year and has been begging ever since to go on one.  I told her she could choose one ride at the fair to go on and that is what she chose.  Erin had the choice of who she wanted to ride with and she chose my dad.  So Lily and I rode together.  I tell you Lily didn't stop giggling the whole time.  She LOVED it.

After this I stopped taking pictures but we saw all the animals and walked through some other displays.  We signed the girls up to do mutton bustin at the rodeo but they didn't get picked from the lottery.  Maybe next year.  At the end of the night we found another really cool display that was hands on science stuff for kids and adults to play with.  The girls loved it and had fun there as well.  Through the chaos we never got a chance to buy a fair treat but I am sure that in the long run that is better for us :)
I can't wait till next year.

Re-evaluation and a BIG FAVOR

So as I have though about my blog this past week I had to think back to when I started my blog.  I really wasn't going to blog but then I read an ensign article that talked about sharing our testimonies with the world through blogging.  I felt an impression that I should do so.  At that time I prayed to Heavenly Father to please protect my family through this adventure.  Over time my blog has turned into a journal, but I still bear my testimony so...  I have decided to keep my blog public, and continue to strive to keep my side of the bargain and continue to pray for protection for my family.  So I am sorry about the going private scare.  Thanks for your support and love.

Now for a really big favor.  I have entered Kaylee into a cute baby photo contest and I want to win.  To do so I need the help of everyone I can get. So go and vote for her.  Here is the link.  To find Kaylee through the 1500 babies entered here's what you can do.  In the search box you can enter my e-mail address (lizzy_clarinet(at)hotmail(dot)com) or you can search her name.  Here is the picture you are looking for.

Since I have the most awesome family and friends in the world I am certain that if we pull together we can win.  But just in case I will bribe you a little too.   Part of the prize in a gift basket full of goodies valued to $500.  If I win it I will share the goodies with you.  Meaning I will do a giveaway on my blog.  So please go and vote for her.  Your support will be greatly appreciated! 
ps. I just saw a baby with 115 votes while Kaylee only has 8.  So we got to move it move it, come on and move it move it.

Going Private

Okay so if you blog you have probably seen this new stats thing.  I think its pretty cool, but after playing around with it for a minute I think I might want to go private.  So... you know the drill leave me your e-mail address so I can add you.  You can e-mail it to me at lizzy_clarinet(at)hotmail(dot)com if you feel more comfortable doing it that way.
Is anyone else having a similar experience to me?  Am I overreacting? 
You have one week (sept 7thish)

School

It happened.  My little girl grew up and went to kindergarten.  I kinda feel like it's the beginning of the end. She is so smart and so ready but she will always be my baby.  Rest assured she did not feel any anguish over today.  And to be honest I don't think I felt the most anguish, that roll was taken by her little sister who thinks that she is 5 as well and going to kindergarten.  I had hard time coaxing Lily out of the classroom, she felt like she belonged there.   

Lily will be starting preschool here soon and I am not sure how I feel about that either.  Lily qualifies for free preschool through the school district along with speech therapy.  She will be doing preschool 2 days a week and I am fine with that, what I am having a super hard time with is that they will send a bus to pick her up.  She is way to little to ride the bus isn't she.  My heart can barelyy handle the thought.  Have any of you sent your kids on the bus? What did you do and how did you handle it, would I be crazy to drive her when this service is offered?

Family Pictures

We had family photos taken earlier this month and I am soooo happy with them.  Here a a select few to share with you.

I must admit I have beautiful children.

Some End Of Summer Fun

Can you believe that school is starting soon.  It seriously feels like summer just started. Well this weekend was our last weekend of summer fun as a family so we lived it up.  We did a fun and messy art project.

We went to some splash pads in SL and played.

We went to a fun new pizza place called Incredible Pizza that the girls had a blast at.

James and I also went on a double date with my brother and his wife.  We also had some friends and the missionaries over for dinner Sunday night, in which I made this cake.

Visit my craft blog for the recipe.
All in all we had a super fun weekend and we are all exhausted now.  Now I just need to do some back to school shopping and sewing.  I hope you all enjoy your last few days of summer and soak it up!!!