Happy 2009

From Hartland we wanted to wish you all a fantastically wonderful, blessed 2009! It's hard to believe that 2008 has already come to a close, and here I am on New Year's Eve! Looking back it was a good year for us. Tom started work at NASA and we decided that I should drop down my hours at work to part-time. For the most part one of us is home with the girls (but thank heaven we do still have our amazing sitter just a phone call away!) Zoey was a busy girl this year with soccer, play dates and our preschool homeschooling. Camryn has grown so much this year and is no longer our little baby! It's hard for me to believe that she was still only crawling just over a year ago, amazing! God has blessed us so much! Please be safe on this new year holiday!

Getaway

We are so looking forward to our little escape this weekend! We've rented a cabin in Cloudcroft, NM for a long weekend and are all ready to tune out post-holiday chaos and relax. Sadly, there's no snow at the moment--so unless we have a freak storm come through the area in the next few days we'll have a cold, dry weekend. I don't mind though. It will be nice to do some hiking and sort through all the treasures that nature has to offer us.

I've been jotting down checklists about packing, food supplies and entertainment equipment. It's unbelievable how much stuff a toddler and preschooler need for four days! Wish us luck!

My Husband, The Photographer

I was going through random pictures and came across this one that Tom took a couple of weeks ago. It was on the way back for his quick Texas escapade with Zo and Cam. Isn't it fantastic? They were traveling through Hondo, just before you head into the tall pines of the Sacremento mountains. He said that there were deer everywhere in the open fields near the road, and they found this stock pond full of Canadian geese. It looks very serene.

Recovery

We had a fast paced Christmas holiday here in Hartland, but it was wonderful! Our family traveled up to my parents on the 23rd, to drop the girls off--Tom and I both had to work on Christmas Eve. We brought up a new pellet stove for the apartment my parent's rent out and Tom and my Dad had a doozy of a time getting that thing up and running. The girls and I played with Meme at her house for a little while and then headed down to the store to add some helping (distracting?) hands! Having the girls run around the store reminded me a lot my growing up experiences there. I think that I was about 4 or 5 when my Dad, Mom and Grandpa Robert first opened up Valley Market. We helped set out rolls to rise and cookies to bake, and boxed up all kinds of goodies to sell. Good times!

Christmas Eve was horrible at work. You'd think that people would want to stay home for the holiday, but we had women coming in to Labor & Delivery for the dumbest things. Honestly people, call your clinic's after hours hot line! Tom had a nice, relaxing shift--those spoiled guys! Each of the firefighters brought a few things to add to the breakfast buffet they had that morning.

On Christmas day we headed up to Gila again once Tom got home--Dustin hitched a ride with us as well. Once we were at Apple and Meme's we quickly exchanged gifts and then off we went to the family dinner. Thank you Julie for hosting, your new place is really nice! And you're right, very rocky :) It was a great time, I only wish we could have stayed longer in Gila. But soon enough we were back on the road with our beautiful girls, made a pit stop to visit Grandpa Robert and Shelby and deliver gifts, then off to Hartland again. Whew!

On a side note, Christmas day is my little brother's birthday. When we were younger I think I was a little resentful that he always had these beautiful decorations all over and a tree. Man, what's with all the pomp and circumstance? But now Dust, thanks for being a good sport about it! I hope that you had a fantastic day (and that you weren't as stuffed as I was, ugh!) Hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas!

O Happy Day

It's official! Ben & Cynthia we are so full of a million wonderful emotions (as I know that you both are!) that can't quite describe how happy we are that you have two beautiful girls and two beautiful boys that are officially your daughters and sons! All of the many months of paperwork, meetings, fire escape plans (yes, we're still laughing about that!) are done.

Tom, Zoey & Camryn made a mad dash to Texas on Friday to attend the adoption hearing of our new nieces--9 year old Alexis and 15 month old Alissa. Sadly, I had to stay behind and work. Darn the pregnant women that inconvenienced me that day :) Here's a picture of Camryn and her GG (great grandma Mona) waiting at the court house for the adoption hearing to start. Tom was wonderful and took lots of pictures for me! Welcome to the family Alexis and Alissa HART! We love you B, C, A, N, J, A!

One To Share

Okay, I had to share this last one for the day! Our poor little Snoop Dog isn't made to handle these cold December days ( thank goodness we don't live in Wisconsin or somewhere like that!) So I did what I always thought was the most ridiculous thing... The girls and I bought him a little army sweater. He seems pretty content with it. Not spoiled in the least, is he?

Cold & Dreary

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the heat from our furnace is so delightful!!!! It is a cold and dreary day today in Hartland, and I think that if it cools down just a tad bit more we'll have snow today! Of course, it's too wet outside to stick.

On a day like this I'd like nothing more than to stay in my pj's, sit under a blanket on the couch and watch chick flicks. Yes, Tom is on shift today! However, my dirty house is calling to me, there is laundry to be done and Zoey has been itching to make some Christmas cookies. I found a recipe for dog biscuits--I think that might be a good one for the girls to make today, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if a little egg shell made it into their treats :)

Introducing...

Hartland proudly welcomes the newest addition to our family, Snoop Dog aka Snoopy. As you read in a previous post, our Molly dog went missing and we haven't seen her since that time. Our poor fattie girl....Well Blue seemed very content, but a certain unnamed fireman sure had an itch to look for another dog. And he and the girls had been randomly checking out our local animal shelter (while mommy was working!). His story goes that after looking over several dogs he chose Snoop because the little guy crawled into Camryn's lap when she sat on the ground.

After his checkup and surgery (sorry little dog!) he came home to us last Thursday. He's a chihuahua mix and is a little smaller than our monster cat Biggs. And he fits into our family just fine.

Family Time

We had a great time trimming the Christmas tree--and yes, Camryn did already pull it over one time :) The first thing that Zoey does every morning when she wakes up is to run and plug in the tree. They are both fascinated by it. It's been really cold the last couple of days so we haven't put the lights on the house yet, but Zozo reminds us of it every day! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Back In The Day

I was just browsing the old pc files, trying to clean things up when I stumbled across my favorite video clip of all time! This is Camryn when she was probably 7 or 8 months old. The picture quality isn't the best since I videoed it from my phone. But this truly is my favorite of all time :) Hope that you get a kick out it!

Fa La La

Merry early Christmas from Hartland! The holiday bug has bitten me hard and for the last couple of days we've been jammin to SUNNY 99--All Christmas, all the time. The house is slowly turning into a winter wonderland and there are packages to be wrapped. Thank goodness were done with shopping already!

We'll set up the ole' trusty artificial tree again this year. One because I feel guilty about killing a real tree *note that it may be argued, but I am not a tree huggin' hippie!* Next the live potted tree we bought when Zoey was one didn't survive once planted. Lastly I have this sneaking suspicion that Camryn might be trying to climb the tree this year, and a real tree would smash her. We're also going to ditch the ornaments this year (Again, for mom's sanity and Camryn's safety...) for construction paper chains, red and white jingle bells, and lights.

Also Meme and Apple just gave the girls a very cute Fisher Price Little People Nativity set. The girls LOVE it! It's fun to play with them and talk and about the REAL Christmas story. Feliz Navidad from Hartland everyone!

Missing Molly

Very sadly, we've lost our brown Molly dog. We last saw her the morning of Camryn's birthday party and there's been no sign of her since. She was a really sweet dog, so we're hoping for the best and maybe someone picked her up. Both of our dogs had recently been on a spree of jumping out of the yard...So now Blue Blue is flying solo in Hartland and she's very much taken to being a house dog :) Verrrrrry much. In fact today we girls went on a shopping trip and bought her a big fluffy pillow to lounge on. The only thing she has to get used to is the girls lovingly laying all over her!

Tom is kind of set on finding miss Blue a companion, but I'm still teetering on the fence about it. We've visited our local animal shelter several times in the last few days looking for missing Molly and there are several cuties there...I'd probably come home with 10 of them though. Our 2 cats would be thrilled!

Birthday Girl

Camryn is 2! We had such a fantastic time having everyone here for her birthday party, celebrating with us! We planned a monkey themed party: lots of monkey party favors, green jungle crepe paper decorations, and the piece de resistance of Tom decorating a monkey cake that I had baked.

A little cranky

It's been a whirlwind week and frankly, I'm just exhausted... Hope that you all had a wonderfully fantastic Thanksgiving! Tom is on a 48 hour shift and I work the holiday, so we didn't get much celebrating in on this end. Thank you so much Apple & Meme (aka Dad & Mom) for trekking down to LC to hang with our girlies. We love you!

After I've had a decent amount of sleep on board, there will be lots of stuff to dish about tomorrow :)

Awareness

Our great neighbor and friend was told last week that she had breast cancer. Yesterday she was admitted to the hospital and had a bilateral mastectomy and hysterectomy. Please keep her and her family in your prayers during her course of chemotherapy and recovery.

October was breast cancer awareness month, but
just a little reminder that truly, every month should be breast cancer awareness month! We are all connected in some way, shape or form to someone that has/had breast cancer. Show them your support!

Hot, hot HOT!

And when I say hot I am referring to both the fire and one particular NASA/South Valley firefighter!!! This week a big plant/nursery facility (that is actually pretty near Hartland in the south valley) went up in smoke. Apparently it was a welding job gone very, very wrong. Anyhow Tom spent most of his day here with many other city and volunteer firefighters doing a dirty, tiring job. This pic is of the ladder truck from NASA where Tom works.

For the first few hours Tom was the water control officer, meaning he coordinated every truck that showed up at the scene. Then when NASA showed up he jumped on the ladder truck and snuck inside the building to fight the flames and ventilate. It's a good thing he told me about that before I saw the pictures...This was an ugly fire! Thanks to all of you firefighters out there that serve the public in a very important way, we appreciate all you do!

Badger Mania

Saturday was the Badger's last soccer game of the 2008 season. It was a frigid one, but we had fun! The first pic is of Zoey with her team and coach. The second (bear with me, I couldn't figure out a way to rotate...) is of a very proud little Badger holding her soccer trophy! After the game our team, along with their entourage of parents/family/friends went to a nearby park to picnic, have a purple Badger cake and play.

Our new season starts in early February and guess who was conned into being a second coach for the team? Yup, Tom and I get to split because of our opposite schedules. I guess I'm going to have to google a lot of coaching ideas for soccer practice--not sure what we're getting ourselves into! Also we're going to try and down grade the team to a 4-5 year old team. Hopefully we'll be a little more evenly matched next year! We're also looking for three more players...Anyone, anyone?

Domesticity

So little miss Cams has developed a new obsession over the past few days...Apparently the dining room chairs are at her disposal and she can take them anywhere she wants. More often than not, it's to pull one over to the kitchen sink. 'Mamma I wash my hands', 'Mamma I wash dishhhhes', 'Mamma I cooking'. Sigh, if only it would last into her teenage years, right? And of course, it was all fun and games until she figured out that our faucet can be switched from regular to turbo blast jets! My floors have never been so clean, they've been moped so many times today... She is too funny--I can't believe my baby will be turning two years old VERY SOON!

Also on the homefront the pecan harvest has started in Hartland. My kitchen counters are littered with grocery bags filled with dusty goodness. We haven't even officially shaken the trees yet, but we've been picking up pecans from the ground that have already fallen. Trying to stay a little ahead of the game--that, and picking up as many as we can before our skunky blu blu dog crunches them all. Mmmm, fiber!

Go Badgers

Zoey turned 4 years old during the summer and we were able to sign her up for peewee soccer here in LC. Since Tom and I have split our schedules, the girls are pretty much home with us and getting her more involved with other kids can only be a good thing! Anyhow, we never realized the cult following of peewee soccer that existed out there. Saturdays from sun up to sun down there are anywhere from 10 to 25 games of soccer going on at one time. Unbelievable.... And a lot of fun!

Zoey is part of the Deep Purple Soccer League and her team is called the Badgers. Go Badgers! There were originally 8 kids on her team, which is a 4-6 year old team. Go Badgers! They've slowly dwindled in numbers to 4, sometimes 5 kids--All of which are 4 years old! Go Badgers! It's fun to watch them, but in our next season that begins in February we're going to try to switch to a 4-5 year old team. Yes, we've pretty much been smeared across the field in each of our games against obviously older, more coordinated players! Here in Hartland we're trying to work on Zoey's competitiveness for next season. She's such a mother hen that she runs over to every kid that falls down and dusts them off. She's also very polite and will gladly get out of the way when the ball rolls through :) Well, at least she's not standing off in a corner of the field picking her nose, right? Go Badgers! One more game on Saturday and then we wait out some cold days until February.

Testing the waters...

Blog, blog, BLOG! So, in this day and age it seems like everyone is talking blogging. So the Hart's are going to give it a try. Everyone has such fast paced schedules (including us!) that I thought this might be a fun way with letting you take a peek into our family and what we have going on. This will probably be a whole lot easier than trying to keep up my old webpage, which was more often than not, sorely neglected. So, pass it on and tell your friends! Here goes--Ready, set, BLOG!