Northwood Show Choir 2012-2013

This school year, Matthew and Lucas have joined the show choir at their elementary school.  They are REALLY enjoying it!   They have performed several times, adding a new song to their routine each performance.  

Their first performance was at the Marysville High School varsity game at half time.  They sang "Dynamite", and were slightly less than in step with one another.  But, I was super proud nonetheless!  

Then they performed at the Bunsold Middle School choir concert.  They performed "Dynamite" and "Dancing in the Streets."  This performance was MUCH better, and they were so cute dancing with a partner.  They even got a standing ovation from the middle schoolers.  It was so awesome.  

A few weeks ago, we had a rally to generate excitement for the upcoming renewal levy.  The district showcased some extra curricular activities, and the Northwood Show Choir was ready to perform again.  They did "Dynamite" and "Dancing in the Streets" in front of a huge crowd, and this time the high school show choir was cheering them on.  I love seeing the older students encouraging the little ones.  Their next performance will be at their art show/spaghetti dinner in a few weeks.  They're adding "Footloose" to their performance.  They also have been performing at the Leadership Rally the school has each month.  

Lucas and his friends enjoying the MHS band.

Matthew "Dancing in the Streets"

I love seeing the boys dancing and singing, and sharing their talent with others.  The conversations that start, "Mommy, have you ever heard the song 'Footloose'?"  are too funny!  They're always amazed that I have actually heard of a song that they are singing in show choir.  

Playing Princess

Playing "princess" is all Natalie wants to do as of late.  Literally, she rolls out of bed {if it's a Saturday} and turns into Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or Tinkerbell.  But it doesn't stop there.....she adds a tiara, a sparkly necklace, another tutu, and of course some shoes.  Sometimes the boa even makes it around her neck.  This little girl is too much sometimes!  

It's so sweet to see her floating around the house in her princess attire.  In fact, it seems like I look at her late on Saturday afternoons, and just realize then that she is still in her pjs!  I mean, why bother and put clothes on if you're just going to put a princess dress on over them!  If it's not a Saturday, she's in her room right after we get home from the sitter to get herself all "princessfied".  

Someday, she'll be out of this phase, so for right now I am thoroughly enjoying it.  

Matthew and Lucas Turn 10!

Wow!  Big double digits.  I can't believe these guys are ten.  Double digits.  From the time they were babies, I never understood how blessed I was with these sweet guys until their birthday.  So much of their early life is such a blur-trying to keep two little boys fed, dressed, changed, and out of danger takes a lot of thinking and time!

Alas, here we are and they are 10!  I seriously can't believe what sweet, caring, smart, wonderful young men they are growing up to be.   Here are a few fun facts about each of them:

Matthew:  He loves all sorts of fantasy books and shows, etc.  He is always using his imagination to play whatever character he is into at the time.  Matthew always has a LEGO man in his hand or in his pocket, and is adding to his LEGO sets everyday.  I love how he is interested in reading the Bible, and faithfully checks the verse of the week.  He wants to be a SWAT team member when he grows up.  

Lucas:  Lucas is more of a chill out, want to play with LEGOS and watch tv kind of kid.  He also LOVES his video games, but also enjoys playing outside.  He likes his sports, and is such a sweet big brother to Natalie.  Lucas is so super smart in school, and he is always wanting to read-especially realistic fiction books.  He's also our eater-he loves to eat, and is growing so strong everyday.  Love him!  He's also growing a strong heart for the Lord, and it's so fun to see him following along in church and asking questions.  

So, those are my boys!  We celebrated them with an Avengers themed party this year.  As much as I don't always understand the bday party themes they choose, I know someday I'll wish that we were having a themed party and that they were home celebrating their birthday with us.  We had our families over for dinner, cake, and ice cream.  Then, the day after we headed to SkyZone, and indoor trampoline park for their friends party.  They had a great time!  

Mommy and Daddy: Friends party, bikes

Grandma Connie and Papa Ron:  tackle boxes, fishing gear

Grandma Patty and Grandpa Keith:  digital cameras

Kristin and Joey:  Amazon Kindle Fire gift cards

Devon and Christopher:  Beyblades

Lindsey and Ben:  Z Shot bow 

Daniel and Tiffany:  Wal Mart Gift cards

Natalie's First Snow Day

Natalie had her first chance to play in the snow.  Between Christmas and New Year's, we got quite the snow fall.  She begged and begged to go outside-the boys had gone to a friend's house to play in the snow, so why couldn't she?  So she talked Derrick, known to her as "my friend daddy" into going out and playing. 

She had the best time!  She didn't last long, as it was VERY cold outside, but she had a great time.  It was funny to watch her-she refused to lay down and make a snow angel, but throwing snow at daddy was super fun!

Hurst Family Christmas

Matthew, Lucas, and baby Elly

This year, we celebrated Christmas ALL.DAY.LONG at the Hurst house on New Year's Eve.  So glad I love these people dearly-because we were there from about 1:00 until about....11:00.  We almost rang in the New Year with them, but tired {overstimulated/hyper} kids and a headache for me led us down the road toward home shortly before midnight.  

As is typical, we had a "fun" game to play in order to open gifts.  This entailed choosing a Christmas trivia question from a basket, answering it, then hunting for the tag that had the answer on it.  This was then revealed whose gift it was.  Such fun.  Yes, it was.  It took forever, there were "breaks", and the boys were over hyper, but all in all it was fun.  

The day/evening were of course made much more fun with the super sweet baby nieces that had their first Christmas with us-Remington and Elly.  What cuties!  

One of the first gifts Natalie opened was from Derrick's parents-Princess Hello Kitty pjs.  Of course, even though it was about 2:00 pm, she donned them right away and didn't take them off all evening.  The boys were beyond excited to get some new LEGO sets, some Terrain Twisters {which are VERY cool remote control vehicles}, and of course the ever classic Shirnky Dinks.  Every kid has to have those, right?  

Natalie was totally spoiled with her new Fisher Price Loving Family dollhouse-so fun!  

We had a blessed, wonderful Christmas with everyone!

2012-A BLESSED Year

2012 has been such a FABULOUS year for our family!  We have made so many great memories this year, and our family on both sides has grown so much!  Here are some of the highlights of our year {sorry, I don't have pictures of all of them :( }

*Matthew and Lucas turned 9 and passed both their blue belt AND green belt tests in karate.

*Daniel and Tiffany were married in February, and added baby Remi to our family in December.

*We enjoyed all the major holidays with our extended families-and Easter was extra sweet with the announcement of baby Brody joining us in October.

*Many wedding and baby showers were given this  year-Lindsey, Sarah, Devon and Kristin were all the guests of honor!

*Lindsey and Ben were married in June-adding Wesley and Riley to our family.

*We traveled to Walt Disney World with Derrick's parents and youngest sister in June.  It was truly one of our best memories of 2012!  

*Darin and Sarah were married in September, and Devon and Christopher gave us baby Ellie in August.

*Natalie turned "3" in October, and Baby Brody was born just the very next day!  

*Natalie enjoyed playing in her first snow fall EVER.

It was such a wonderful year for us-God is GOOD!

Christmas Day 2012

Matthew, Natalie, and Lucas-Christmas 2012 

Our family Christmas this year was so much fun!  We started with Christmas Eve, and Derrick and the boys went to Omi and Opa's for lunch and gifts with Derrick's family.  I was home with Natalie, who had a yucky cough and a super high fever-come to find out a few days later, she had the croup.  Yuck! Nonetheless, we divided and conquered, making it to each family celebration with the boys so they wouldn't miss out on all the fun.  

Lucas, me and Matthew ready for Christmas Eve service.  

They went to Omi and Opa's, and each came home very excited about their Diary of A Wimpy Kid pjs and new Star Wars Jenga games.  After they got home, it was time to get them ready to participate in the Christmas Eve service at our new church-Living Word.  In case you hadn't heard, Derrick got a call to Living Word Lutheran Church in Galena, OH-about 35 minutes away.  We're super excited about it!  And as are the members-the music director had asked if the boys wanted to participate with the other kids in reading the Christmas story from Luke 2.  So, we practiced the night before and Monday night they were ready to go.  Derrick stayed home with Natalie while I took the boys-I REALLY didn't want to miss out on it!  The service was wonderful, and the boys did fantastic!

Love the owl hat!

Tuesday morning, Derrick and I were actually up well before the kids!  I put together a Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole, some cinnamon rolls, and some fruit Christmas trees.  We had coffee and chit chatted, waiting for them to wake up.  Lucas was up first-and what a bummer because he waited at least another half an hour for Matthew to join him!  We started with stockings, and they were "excited" to get the "usual"--toothpaste, deodarant, books, headphones, and other practical things in their stockings.  We took a slight break for breakfast-and by this time Natalie had woken up.  After her stocking was opened, we started handing out gifts to everyone-one at a time.  

Matthew and Lucas excited for their Kindle Fires.

The boys got a lot of clothes-which they desperately needed-and also some video games.  Their most "exciting" gift was a Kindle Fire, right next to their Skylanders Giants game for the XBox.  Both of these things were on their "wish list", and we delivered!  Natalie was kind of dragging behind, taking time between opening gifts to wipe her ever running nose!  The opening went on until around 1:00.  We stopped for lunch-homemade pizzas-and by now Natalie had fizzled for a nap.  The boys were busy enjoying their Kindle Fires and trying out all their new video games they got.  

My parents stopped by later that day to see what the kids had received.  Also, Natalie wasn't done opening-because she had been napping-so they got to watch her open her fun gifts.  She was very excited about her Cinderella dress, her Tinkerbell costume, and her magnetic dress up dolls.  Her big gift was a V-Tech Inno Tab...in selfish hopefulness that I'll somehow regain my iPad back.  

Performing with their recorders in the talent show.  

Later that evening, I took the boys over to Aunt Nancy and Uncle Kevin's for Christmas with my extended family-and the talent show.  Matthew and Lucas performed their recorders and did a tremendous job.  Uncle Kevin even joined in on Hot Cross Buns, accompanying the boys with his guitar.  The crowning act was Mom and her sisters with a cute dance they had choreographed.  Nothing is ever dull with our family!  

We returned home, ready for bed yet excited about our fun filled day!