A Hurst Weekend

All ready for church. I shouldn't have fixed the red eye in this picture, as that was probably a better representation of Luke at the time. This was the moment just before he pushed her off the stairs. She's a tough one!
What is it about stairs anyway? Kids gravitate to them...maybe it's the freedom that awaits at the top? Who knows, but just like all kids do, Sammy goes for the stairs constantly.
At church with Ms. Paige. Paige helps her mom (my friend Jennifer) in the nursery on Sundays. Sammy knows her when she sees her coming.

Luke goes straight for the train table...and talks about it all the way there. On the way to church there is no looking for planes, motorcycles, car washes, or water towers (which are typically his favorite sightings); church = train table and that is all he can focus on.

Backyard activity to follow int eh little zebra pool. They both think it is a blast!

And...three days a week (at least) we hit the pool. James and I swim laps with the kids in the floats and then they play in the little one on the annoying breaks. Why do pools insist on a 10-min break every hour anyway? Are lifeguards unionized? Anyway, here is the little man lining up all his pool toys.

Water baby #2!

A little scary at first to trust them anywhere near each other in water, but he does really well. They splash each other and he'll push her back to us when she drifts too far away. Very cute!

Hot--Seriously Hot--Summer Fun

Ma and Pops were here visiting week before last. This was one of the highlights of the trip for Luke. Th water sprinkler with his Grandma. Can you tell he kinda liked it? It's going to come in handy because it is HOT here, as in like in the 100's every day for the last 3 days and in the forecast for the next 5+.
As did Grandma... She is apparently disarming. He had his face all in the water here with no coaxing required. But, Tuesday night we went to Seaworld and he wouldn't even consider putting his face in the splash pad water there. I have no idea what the difference is...maybe the people or the amount of water. Who knows, but it was surprising. He had fun of course and got sufficiently wet from playing with the water and the splashing, but no face action. Then we always have to do the walrus show...he has a thing for the "big walrus". He was so excited I had to periodically lean over and tell him "take a bite" to which he complied. Otherwise he'd have never touched the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he was begging for just seconds before the show started.

Sammy is trying to find her Cheerios amidst all the toys. It is amazing how fast they tire of the same toys, but yet never tire of the random box or tissue paper.

This is her content look. This was just before she started crawling, which was a rather frustrating time for the little lady. But...no more. Now she is all over the place, whether we like it or not. AND...added bonus, she has a tooth. Her first tooth came in on the bottom. AND...she claps. I came home from work today to find Sammy clapping, for herself. When she is real proud of herself for a long crawl or getting the trash bag out of the can, you know something cool, she pops up and claps her little hands off. Very cute and very sudden. Just all of a sudden today she breaks out is excessive clapping. There is no telling what new trick she'll spring on us next.

Sammy Crawls!!

At last...our little angel with an attitude crawls! Tonight she did a quick hop forward with both knees and then popped back up. It was enough to spark her interest though because next she tried again and made it three strides before sitting back up (which is her top trick right now, so I think she's having a hard time letting go and moving forward into the crawling craze). And...then on to four strides... Next she'll be walking before we know it! Super excited...seems like we've been just knowing she'll crawl any day for many, may days now.

Pics are coming...stay tuned.