Hurst Family News

A canner exceedingly canny, One morning remarked to his granny,  "A canner can can anything that he can, but a canner can't can a can, can he?" So I half canned these green beans for my mother in law.  Grown and picked by my father in law,  washed and cut by me, cooked by me, jars filled by my mother in law, lidded and put in the pressure cooker by me and timed and taken out by my mother in law.  It's a group effort.   I'm grateful to begin to learn how to can  (which shouldn't it be called BOTTLE?).   Preserve anyhow.   My first attempt I forgot to wipe the mouth of the bottle (they shouldn't go out in public like that- how embarrassing!) and ended up with 3 of my 5 jars not sealing.   This go around all 6 sealed.   Next step is figuring out how to grow the darn food.  THAT I'm not so good at.   For my memory's sake I'm writing the steps here (because I keep losing the paper I wrote ...

With both brothers having birthdays recently and the big hurrah of Big Bro heading off to school- Middle Child sometimes gets left being the Middle Child.  You know.  Not big enough. Too big. But while Brother Boy is at Kindergarten- Charlie Bucket usually goes down for a nap and we get some Mommy and Landon Time.  IT ROCKS! We color, play Duplos, Lincoln Logs, Wobble Cars (plasma cars), Trains, work at the Blue House (I agree with Lacy - it needs a name). All manner of goodness.  Today, as I'm feeling a bit under the weather (trying to fight this back to school head cold that Ian has been so gracious in sharing around our house), I decided to play Rest on the Couch while Lando plays with Blocks.  I put down my book and closed my eyes.  About 10 minutes later my sweet boy comes over- removes my book so he can lie down with me.  And he does.  Snuggles for a good three minutes or so before he heads off to the kitchen in search of food.  At whi...

My little Charlie is 1- it's hard to believe.   He likes to practice walking and being a big boy.   My monster got his very own monster cupcakes for his big day.   And a swing...  ...that he adores.  He didn't know what to do with the candle- but grabbed a cupcake as soon as they were in reach.   Delicious.   But creamy vanilla ice cream is way better than cake.    Gimmie MORE!  The green one kind of looks like the aliens from Toy Story.  OOOOOooooooo! And my favorite (bottom middle) looks a bit like BoB.   From Monsters vs. Aliens.  "What's romantic about Fresno?" Here's to a year of joy and laughs with my wee #3.   Thanks Tertius for being born.  We love you! Here's a look back at his First Week .  What a Stud!

 My firstborn started school today.  I wasn't angst ridden.  Didn't cry.  He didn't seem overly nervous.  I think we're both ready.  Though after he walked off to class (by himself, at HIS request) I did have second thoughts. Did I teach him enough?  Does he know who to turn to if he needs help? Will he ask for help?  Will he make new friends?   Will he be the bully?  Why didn't I walk him to his classroom like I saw all the other moms doing?  Oh well.  It is what it is.  I think he'll do great and I look forward to the recap on the bike ride home.   I  can hardly believe we're at this stage in life already.   Kind of exciting.  

I can't get over how much my wee #3 looks like his oldest brother.  See?  And he's not so wee.  He's trying to walk and will be one in 17 days.  THIS boy is almost 5 and will be starting school in two weeks. CRAZY!  "Mom, let's take pictures of each other taking pictures." I don't know how to get the pictures from Ian's camera however.  He inherited it from his great grandpa.   Now here's my sweet Landon Boy.  Growing by leaps and bounds.  Knows his ABCs, 123s and can recognize that L is for Landon that's good enough for me!  Here's one of the FEW pictures I took from our Family Reunion. We hiked Donut Falls and I had to stop to feed Charlie and got left behind.  (But I wasn't going to take him up there anyway) The rest of the gang headed UP the falls and even waded in the icy cold pool.    Droop Shot.   This is often how my boys play together.  Ian on the game boy but next t...