The Princess Ball!

For Gracie's 5th birthday, the Hurt family bought tickets tot he Princess Ball!  Even though this experience was over 6 months ago, Gracie still talks about how much fun she had!  

Pixie Ann Weaver

Meet Pixie, our new puppy!  She's been with us for a little over a week and she is such a great addition to our family.  We've been broken-hearted since losing Tysie in September, but having Pixie around has been a bright spot for all of us!  She's finally potty trained... I say finally, but it really only took her about 10 days.  She's sleeping through the night... Praise be to God!  And she seems to be getting comfortable with all of us.  

The first few nights home were rough.  Pixie missed her family and having a new puppy to watch 24/7 was a lot of work.  Those days faded quickly and now she can be trusted to be unsupervised for a couple of minutes and she's happy to join in the family fun!  She rings the bells on the backdoor when she wants/needs to get outside and she playfully growls at her toys, hoping to get us on the floor with her.  Having a puppy is everything Gracie was hoping and more... besides the eating her hair... she could live without that part!  

Here are a few pictures from her first week home!

Sensory Play

Today I decided to take the time to do something I love to do... it's been awhile since I set up an invitation for the kids to play.  I used to do it all the time when Kyle and the girls were young, but it seems like laundry, dishes, and meal prep have absorbed all my free time and creative energy.  But today, I decided that I'm tired of waiting until I have the time to be fun and creative, so I just took the time to create a fun place space for the little girls.  And as it turned out, the big girls quite enjoyed it, too!  I'm guessing Kyle will play once he sees it, too.

This is our sand and water table filled with pinto beans.  I bought several bags at Aldi today and fill the bin with spoons, cups, and small containers to fill and dump.  The only rule is that any beans that land on the floor must be picked up.  Natalie, Gracie, and Kianna followed the rule perfectly, but Hattie, not so much!  She's still learning, I guess.  Although for her, dropping the beans onto the floor is about as fun as picking them up, so it's all good!

A bird's eye view

Let the fun begin!

Once the big girls got home and changed for dance, they played for 20 minutes.
Altogether.
Peacefully.
So much fun!

I'm definitely going to take more opportunities to invite the little girls to play.  Because they deserve it.  And because I do, too!  I always dreamed of being a mom and I'm not going to let laundry and dishes steal these precious days with them.

Strawberry Picking 2016

While the strawberries were ripe, Stephanie and I took the kids to Platte City to pick strawberries!  It's always such a fun experience for these city kids to get experiences in the country!

They were pretty dirty afterwards,
but mostly these two just like to play in the water together!

Since Hattie didn't get to come with us to pick strawberries, we made sure she got to enjoy them!  Yummy!