February Happenings

What a crazy winter this has been! Along with unseasonably warm temps, we've had very little snow this winter. We've only used the snowblower 3 or 4 times - most of those times out of laziness and not necessity! We haven't even gone sledding! It has been a crazy winter for sure!

All this to say, the groundhog says 6 more weeks of winter...I really can't say I believe him! Here are my groundhogs, ready to go to Chick-fil-A for their Groundhog family night dinner!
For Valentine's Day, I put together my annual "love dinner" for the family. This is a tradition that my mom started many years ago. We get out the fine china and crystal, light the candles and enjoy a fancy dinner at home - with the people we love the most! This year, I surprised the kids on the 13th (not the 14th!). With the 14th being a Tuesday, we wouldn't have time for our special dinner due to our Awana meetings at church. When the kids came home from school, they found this waiting for them. I loved hearing the excitement in their voices!
I love these pictures - it is a nice reminder that every once in a while they get along with each other (esp. Katie & Will)! I also love any picture of my children sleeping - they are so peaceful when they sleep!

Celebrating #6 - continued!

We celebrated Maddie & Will's birthday (again) over the weekend! We headed to Happy Joes for some pizza, treats & fun family time! As always, we loved our time spent with the Barman clan, as well as Mallders & Aunt Fran.

Here are Maddie & Will checking out their birthday cookie from Grammy & Grandad.

Aunt Barb, Uncle Willy & Grandad (Becki's dad)Grammy (Becki's mom, on right) and her sister, Aunt Fran

Aunt Teri & Uncle SteveTime to blow out the candles and make a wish x2!!I didn't get any pictures of the Whitten family - hopefully I can track a few down and add them later!

As always, the kids were extremely blessed by an abundance of gifts!!

This remote control car was lots of fun...Matt & I enjoyed running that around the house (we had to make sure it worked after we put in the batteries!).

Will & his cousin Judah, looking through the new fire engine book!

We ended the night with a picture in front of the "birthday" sign. They were so excited to see their names on the sign!!

Mad-Mad & Willy Billy turn 6!!!

Six years already! It baffles me that my youngest are in kindergarten; learning to read, write, tie shoes, ride bikes...all that stuff!! Living day to day, it seems they've been this size for ages...but looking back at pictures, it seems like yesterday they were little toddlers or babies!

Their birthday fell on a Thursday this year, unfortunately Thursday is our craziest day of the week with bible studies and small group. So we decided to celebrate their birthday Wednesday night. We got home after swimming lessons and sang to the twins.

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They then opened their presents. Notice the lovely Target clearance tags on all of the Leapster items. I apologized to Will for giving him a pink & purple Leapster...but I also told him that since they were 75%, I was able to get them a special present! I think they understood that they wouldn't have received it otherwise! Will's response, "It okay Mommy. I decided at swim lessons that I like ALL colors of the rainbow. Well, not pink, but everything else!" I was also able to find a game for each of them from Target for 75% - making it a very sweet deal ($170 of Leapster stuff for $38!!!). Will opened his present next - another Imaginext dinosaur to add to his collection! Can you see the excitement in his eyes?Maddie opened her present and was excited to see a Polly Pocket camper!

They celebrated their birthday at school today - I made these cupcake minions from the movie "Despicable Me!" They were a hit!

Where has the time gone?

I was looking at the blog the other day and couldn't believe that it had been the better part of 5 months since I'd last posted! I have no excuses, other than working more and keeping up with the house and 4 busy kids! I have said all along that this blog is just as much for me (and remembering things when I am too old to remember!!) as it is for everyone else. So, to retain these memories, I suppose I should get going again. I'm going to work very hard at getting the blog up to date - which will be a small miracle! Check back and be sure to scroll back to August. I am putting the blog posts in order by date. I hope that you enjoy the pictures and the adventures of the Hart family.

Funnyness!

So, I think I'm finally caught up. I do have some funny things to share though.

I went through Will's jammies with him a few days ago and told him that his Superman jammies are too small for him. His poor little heart broke and he sobbed! I guess I'll be on the lookout for new superman jammies. He told me if I find some, to get a size 10 (he's size 5/6) so he can wear them for a long, long, time!

Maddie was going through her "popcorn" words when we came to "but"...Her response, "bottom".

The other night Katie & I discussed honesty. The next night we went out to eat. She received 6 chicken nuggets instead of the 4 that were ordered. I asked her what she thought she should do...she got up and went to tell the cashier that they had given her too many. I love her heart! Of course, they told her it was their mistake and okay to keep them.

Katie cut out a mini magazine from her American Girl magazine yesterday. She excitedly told me last night that Pollyanna and Katherine (her AG dolls) would now have something to read while they were in the bathroom.

At conferences yesterday, we got a bunch of old school papers from the kids. One of the papers that Alex wrote was about summer vacation...she had a great summer - she made up everything on the paper!! Remember that she is 7!!! Evidently the things we DID do this summer wasn't up to par for her! she went golfing and "made it in the hole", rode bikes at church with her friends, went to Camp Harvest (katie did), went to a hotel with grammy (and swam)..."My summer vacation was fun!".

Conversation between my nephew and Will...
Judah: Will, have you ever been bathtized?
Will: I don't know what that is.
Judah: It's when people push you under water and you come back up.
Will: Oh, I never been bathtized.
Judah: I've never been bathtized either.