Date Night

The past few weeks have been pretty rough for me (Becki). I have been fighting an upper respitory infection for 3 weeks now as well as migraines (due to the the congestion). I had signed up to attend a Mother Daughter night at our local Chick Fil A but decided at the last minute that I still wasn't feeling well enough to go and enjoy it. I asked my mom if she would be willing to take the two older girls (I had signed up all 3 girls, but knew that it would be easier on Mom to only have the older 2). Mom showed up for their date with these beautiful flowers....

The girls had a wonderful time. They got to try on some Mary Kay cosmetics, get their pictures taken and take a horse/carriage ride. Wonderful memories.

We continue to plug away at the house. Matt & I pulled up the carpet in the front room last weekend. We need to pull up the carpet in the twin's bedroom next. We will be moving all 3 girls into this room in the next month. It is painted pink!! Their new triple bunk bed will be arriving Monday. Then the process of condensing clothes, shoes, etc, etc, etc will begin. I am looking forward to having that DONE!!

More Fall Activities

We ended up celebrating Halloween three days in a row!! Thursday, Matt's company opened it's doors to let the little kiddos parade through in their costumes (and of course received LOTS of candy!!). Our local Chick-Fil-A offered free meals to kids in their costumes that night...so we headed over there for dinner.

Dinosaur Will, Froggy Maddie, Dr Alex (Vet), Fairy Katie

Friday, the kids went trick-or-treating to Grammy & Grandads, Aunt Barb & Uncle Willy's and ended our time at Aunt Fran & Uncle John's. It was a beautiful night, so we walked around Fran & John's neighborhood also.

Saturday (actual Halloween), we headed to the Fall Festivals at Heritage (Teri & Steve's church) and 1st Evangelical Free (church where the kids go to preschool). Lots of games, bounce houses, candy, etc!! Mom even drove the simulation race car with Katie in her lap - they had a BLAST!! Before leaving for the festivals, we carved our pumpkin. It had been a crazy week with our construction projects, painting, etc...so it had been put off until the last minute. Matt had each of the kids draw a face part and then he carved it.

Alex & (cousin) Judah loved the petting zoo. They spent most of their time in here! I guess it was fitting that she was a vet for Halloween!

Maddie being attacked by the goats!! (she is laughing in the picture...surprisingly, she loved it!)

Becki's Mom & Katie trying out the race car...another big hit!!

Katie trying her luck at some of the games.

Will & Maddie on the bounce slide - they went up and down for an hour!

Eating Out

We have concluded that we have eaten out a lot in the past few weeks. Alex confirmed this by the conversation below:


All 6 Hart members plus Grandpa Hart eating at Culvers...

Mommy: Wow, we don't remember what it is like to eat at home, do we?
Alex: I do. We drive through the drive through and take the food home!!

Grandpa Ken Visits!!!

Matt's dad, Grandpa Ken, came to visit us last week. It was wonderful to see him for a full week! We did lots while he was here...but the main reason (aside from seeing the kids) was to help us with a few house projects. Our main project was to remove the wall dividing the kitchen and dining room. We were hoping that it would be possible and when done, that it would open the space up and lots of light would shine through. Of course any project in this house always ends up being more work than necessary...we've heard plenty of people muttering "hmmm" followed by "don't think I've ever seen that done before!" while working in our house...it is helpful to know that it wasn't Matt or I that did the original work!!

Here is the wall before demolition...

First problem - concrete mix and drywall!!! Yes, concrete on the walls! What a mess and so hard to cut through.

Drywall down (notice the dust/dirt)...

2x4s gone... Support beam up...

Becki's dad plastering the drywall...

All finished - for now.

Next step is to prime & paint, then put up pictures. After that...maybe pull up the carpet & finish the hardwood floors underneath??

A BIG BIG thanks to our dads for the wonderful work of their hearts & hands to get this project completed. We love you both and can't say thank you enough. Also, thanks to Becki's mom for watching the kids so there was a bit of sanity during the construction!!

We got out of the house on Sunday to head to Iowa City to letterbox. We found 7 boxes at FW Kent Park. A beautifully carved series by Maude...and very clever...all in a beautiful park! Highly recommend this series!

The Missing Music Box

Here is a conversation from our house this past weekend...(a little background...Will had brought up a wind-up music box and had been dancing circles in the kitchen)

Will: Mommy, where music box go?
Mommy: I don't know.
Mommy: Alex, do you know...(she's in the front room coloring)
Alex: No
Mommy: Alex, do you even know what I was going to ask?
Alex: You were going to ask if I knew where the music box is. (hey...I guess they do listen sometimes!)
Mommy: Maddie, do you know where...
Maddie: NO!! I know NOTHING!
Mommy: (between stiffled laughs)...Um, Maddie, are you sure you don't know where the music box is...
Maddie: (silence...then gets off couch and walks over to a blanket in the corner, pulls out the music box and presents it to Will)
Will: (very happily dancing in the kitchen once again!)