Catching up

I guess I need to do a little catching up, I've been a bit of a slacker and there really hasn't been a lot going on. I went to Utah last weekend to spend a few days with my mom and Red and Monica. I was able to see Phil and his family, Guy and his family, Grandma Lucille, Aunt Helen, Aunt Diane, Don and Lori, Shay and Joe, my cousin Terry Ann, and my high school friend from Monticello, Becky met us for lunch on Friday as soon as I landed. We pulled Monica's kids out of school before I left so I could spend a few minutes with them before I flew out. It was a whirl wind of visiting and Monica brought all of her beads with her so we could make watch bands. I think I ended up with four different bands and two watch faces. It was just too much fun to stop. It was so nice to spend a few days with my family and just visit. We really had no plans and spent a lot of time just hanging out. I was also able to go to Costco which I miss so bad. I love that store. Clark had a good time spending the weekend with Bryant.  A little father son weekend.

Last week was Grace's 6th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. It was a lot of fun.

It makes me laugh that Bryant is afraid of the Vacuum but not afraid of a giant mouse, go figure.

Work has been keeping me pretty busy, my boss has asked me to take on another store that is about an hour away. I must be doing something right if she keeps adding more stores.

Bryant is cracking me up with the new things he's saying. The other day it was "Are you kidding me?"

I guess that about sums it up.

90th Percentile

We took Bryant to his three year doctor's appointment the other day and he's in the 90th percentile in height and weight in his age group. He's 38.1 pounds and 40 inches tall. I think the doctor was a little surprised but not so much so after I told her his dad is 6'5 and has an uncle that is 6'6 and tall grandparents. She thinks he's healthy and developing normally. We were a little concerned that he doesn't talk as much as we think he should but she wasn't worried. Thankfully no shots this year so we were in and out of there in about 15 minutes. It was nice not to have to wait in a waiting room for 45 minutes.

Who Knew??

Who knew a three year old could grow a full white beard. Amazing!!

Picture Time

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We enjoyed a nice dinner at the Nelson's on Christmas Eve. It was pretty low key this year without Matt and Mandy and Shelly and Allen and kids. We missed seeing everyone. It was also snowing on Christmas Eve which is very unusual for Texas any time of the year but it made it feel like Christmas. It didn't stick to the ground at all but it was nice and cold, unlike Wednesday's 70 degree weather.

Bryant opening his Christmas Eve Jammies Grandma June and Grandpa Red sent him. He loves the footie pajamas and he did not want to take them off Christmas Day to get dressed. I washed them so he could wear them again last night. The dogs were even getting into the Christmas spirit and playing.

I think Bryant is finally understanding the present concept. There might be something fun under all of that wrapping paper.

The stocking. He was so excited about getting some candy and an apple. He started eating the apple right then. I guess it's a good thing he wanted the apple first.

Opening the presents. We opened part of the presents with Nana, Papa, Aunt Jenny and Uncle Bill and then called Grandpa Red and Grandma June on the video phone so they could watch Bryant open the rest of his presents. It's a great way for those who can't be here to be a part of the fun too.

Bryant in his new Christmas sweater.

Again, we hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We are looking forward to a great New Year.

Gingerbread House and Christmas Tree Decorating

I need to do a little catching up here. Last week we got the tree out and decorated it and also bought a Gingerbread house to decorate. Both projects turned into two day projects mostly because of my lack of planning and not reading the instructions on the gingerbread house. One of these days I'll get it together. I don't know when that day will be though.

Bryant was fascinated with the beads that go on the tree. It took us about 10 minutes to untangle them after he was done playing with them.

The second night of the gingerbread house. We decided to put the walls up and the roof on and let it sit in the fridge overnight so it would not fall apart. I think it's harder than the concrete foundation of our house.

Bryant kept putting the hard candies in his mouth, realized they were hard and then would try to put them on the house.

I don't know what this face means but it's kinda funny. It's almost a bored can we be done with this project look.

Finally a picture of Bryant looking into the camera and smiling. Maybe we've turned a corner and we'll get some good pictures this year.

This one is pure mischief. The boy is full of it.

So Cute

I just wanted to share this photo of Bryant. He's been digging on the engineer hat lately and he REALLY likes to look at himself in the mirror or any other reflective surface. After playing with the hat all day he had to go to bed with it and fell asleep with it on. He's so peaceful in sleep.

A Lot of Catching Up...

I haven't been very motivated to post anything and we really haven't had much going on.

We spent Thanksgiving here in town and had Clark's family over for dinner. It was a pretty small gathering this year with quite a few people unable to come. Clark had two cousins that are now living in the Dallas area come down for dinner so it was nice visiting with them. As usual we had A LOT of food but enjoyed the leftovers for several days. I made my families version of sweet potatoes that turned out really good and an apple pie that would have been better if the filling had not bubbled over in the oven and smoked everything up. I did not take a single picture because I think I go into frantic mode when people are here and I have to clean as I go. Maybe I need some Xanax so I can relax a little.

The dogs: Angus is now having to wear a diaper almost all of the time and we've kicked them out of our bed and into a small pack-n-play I've set up by the bed. It's the first time in almost 14 years we haven't had the dogs in the bed with us. I think Elmo likes the new sleeping arrangements because he's not getting kicked all night but Angus is still fighting it. Angus is pretty much completely deaf now so he's grumpy most of the time. Poor little geriatric dog, he's had a good almost 14 years. The sad thing is he seems to be going down hill pretty quickly.

Baking weekend: The Hurst women had their annual baking weekend this past weekend. Those of us living in Texas piled into Leigh's van and headed north. We picked up Shelly and Jillian at the DFW airport on our way to Oklahoma to Aunt Helen's house. Shannon was there with little John. It was a good weekend of baking and visiting. Aunt Helen made us a wonderful breakfast on Saturday morning, I don't have a picture of it and probably wouldn't post it anyway because I was looking so good first thing in the morning.

This wagon Bryant is sitting in is his Great-Granpa Hurst's wagon.

There were also three new additions to the family. Alex, Jillian, and John.

Alex in the back was born in May and John was born in April.

Jillian was born in September.

The final results of baking weekend. It looks like a lot but actually a little less than past years. Thank you Aunt Helen for hosting the party and for being patient with Bryant as he dismantled your house.