Merry Christmas - 2018!

 

Hello to our family & friends! Thanks to a winter storm that dumped 14 inches of snow on Moline a few weeks ago, we feel like we've been in the thick of winter for a while now! The cold temps and snow on the ground definitely help with the building anticipation of Christmas!

The highlight of 2018 was time spent out west with Matt's family. We traveled to Grand Teton National Park (where we met up with Matt's parents & his brother) then toured the Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Our country is so beautiful - to see it with his family made our trip & memories all the more special.

Other highlights included heading north to Canada to visit Banff & Jasper National Parks as well as taking a tour through Civil Rights history over Spring Break. The trip was heartbreaking but it was so important to teach the kids this ugly part of our American history. We also traveled to Cincinnati to watch the Cubs vs. Reds for a double header (we got to "Fly The W" for one of the games!) and to Michigan for the Hart Family Reunion in August.

Matt is in his 3rd year with Northwest Respiratory Services. He drives many miles but enjoys caring for his patients. He continues to serve at church on the security team and has weekly meetings with friends to study the bible / Hebrew. I am in my 8th year with Chick-fil-A! Hard to believe that it has been that long! Besides working, I love being involved in the kids' school activities (they keep me busy).

Kaitee - here's my 525,600 minutes in review. In January, I sat behind a steering wheel for the first time. Driving hasn't really become a major part of my life, not quite yet. This year I turned 16! My big birthday gift was quite possibly one of my favorite gifts/experiences of all time: I got to see the musical Hamilton in Chicago! Granted, the performance was two full months after my birthday, but it was still amazing to get to go to an actual theater to watch an actual performance of one of my favorite musicals, in person! Definitely a highlight of 2018. Other highlights included visiting the town of Rouleau ("Dog River" in the Canadian sitcom Corner Gas) during our big trip this summer, sitting down to read (whenever I could) and just hanging out with family and friends.

Alex - I am 14 years old and just started high school. I don't have a busy schedule like last year, but I am still active with things. In school, I am a part of pep band and jazz band (playing Flute & Tenor Saxophone), Bible study and I am taking French. In band, we have to audition for chair placements. I was placed in first chair (Flute) and am super excited that I get the opportunity to have solos. I started babysitting this year and am really enjoying it. It is also helpful that they live only a couple minutes (walking distance) away, so it is easy to go back and forth. I also still volunteer to watch the kids at church. I normally help two weekends a month and am really enjoying it.

Will - I am 12 (almost 13 in one month!). This fall I started 7th grade. I have been involved in Cross Country, First Lego League (we just had our annual competition), Chess Club and Band. I enjoy learning new music for Jazz Band and had my first experience with Marching Band. I still collect Legos and love building and rebuilding sets / creations. Dad & I started participating in Trail Life this last Spring and I really enjoy the things that we do as a troop (camping, fishing, projects, etc). I also am involved with Tech Team at church (that is one of my favorite things)!

Maddie - I am 12 years old and in 7th grade. This year I get to be involved in more clubs and more sports because I am a 7th grader. I decided to do Yearbook, Newspaper and the Musical. For the sports I wanted to do volleyball so I worked really hard to accomplish that. After surviving 2 days of try outs, I made the team (out of 40 girls)! By the end of the season I could play all around and I won the Hustle award! I just tried out for the winter volleyball league and made it! We start tournaments in January. This year has been really fun and exciting.

Matt & I enjoy a weekly date night while all four kids are at youth group. Usually involves dinner and errands, lol. As we look forward to 2019, we realize that all 4 kids will be teenagers! As is the case with teenagers, we are on the cusp of lots of driving lessons, late nights, new adventures, after school jobs, braces (Kaitee is now done! Alex, Will & Maddie are just starting!) and growing independence. Fun times, fun times!

We pray that your 2018 was full of joy and fun-filled memories and may 2019 bring more! Remember to take a moment to reflect on Jesus this Christmas, the Light of the World - come to bring us everlasting peace! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

Much Love,

Matt & Becki Hart
Kaitee, Alex, Will & Maddie
 
www.hartx6.blogspot.com

Christmas Ornaments - 2018

We held our annual "Kickoff to Christmas" meeting last night. We meet as a family and reveal the new ornaments for the year. Matt & I think long and hard about the previous year and then find an ornament for each kid to commemorate their past year.

For the family, we hung 4 new ornaments - Glacier, Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks and one to remember our visit to Corner Gas.

For Kaitee - Nothing can top her big birthday year, #16! If you remember, we gave her tickets to see Hamilton in Chicago last July. Matt & I decided that would be the theme of her ornament. We looked and narrowed it down to a two - one representing the SHOW and one representing the MAN. Based on Kaitee's love for history and all things Hamilton, we decided to go with the ornament that represented the MAN (Hamilton) and not the show. We love this little guy - handpainted and holding a $10 bill!

For Alex - her big highlights this year were band, cheerleading, school musical and her Daddy/Daughter trip with Matt in August. We looked for a few ornaments to remember their trip by, but didn't really have any luck. We then remembered her school musical (Seussical) and looked for a fun Dr Seuss Ornament. We found this one with Horton on one side and a Whoville Who on the other. Alex played a Who from Whoville in the musical, so we gave her this ornament.

For Will - He continues to love Legos and participates in First Lego League. He also has started to be a part of Marching and Jazz Bands - he even has his own trombone now. We have not given him a Trombone ornament as of yet, even though he's been playing for 3 years. We decided it was time for the Trombone to commemorate his year.

 For Maddie - She told me a month ago, "I know what my ornament is going to be this year". I told her that "you may know the theme, but you don't know the ornament". Matt & I looked all over the "Interweb" as Matt so lovingly calls it. We were hoping to find something out of the ordinary for her volleyball ornament. We narrowed it down and then selected this one. It is a "bag" with volleyball themed items - towel, net, volleyball, water bottle, "bump pass spike", magazine. We also asked the woman to personalize the ornament with Maddie's name and jersey number.

Everyone hung their new ornaments on the tree, today we will finish the decorating.

 

Last night, the kids held a "kid only meeting" where they discussed their Secret Santa gift exchange. They are all very excited about this new tradition and can't wait to go shopping!

I Love a Parade...

I love a parade...Especially when my kids are marching in it!

Soon after school started, the 2 middle school bands combine with the high school marching band for the "Band Festival". During halftime, all 3 bands combine for the music. It is a neat event for the kids to participate in!

Will is in the yellow shirt with the white bandana.

A few weeks later, three of the kids participated in the Homecoming Parade. We are blessed in the fact that the parade goes right by our house! Unfortunately, it was very hot!

In contrast to the very hot Homecoming parade, the Halloween parade was windy and cold!

Maddie brought her volleyball to pass time! Her & Alex hit it around for quite a while before the parade started.

Unfortunately, this is one of the better pictures I got of Will (Cub's jersey)! He was right in the middle!

We are done with Marching Band and parades until next Summer/Fall. Alex is excited to participate at the high school too. She decided to take this year off from extra stuff and focus on adjusting to High School. Should be a fun Fall 2019!

Quick Trip to Iowa City

After Maddie watched the movie, The Miracle Season, we knew that we needed to make a special trip to Iowa City to visit some areas that were mentioned in the movie.

We took advantage of a day off for school conferences. The day started cold and overcast but we enjoyed our time in Iowa City - stopping at the "Live Like Line" bench in memory of Caroline "Line" Found. We walked through the library (any idea which kid asked to do that??), drove around the areas mentioned in the movie/book and made a stop at West High School where Caroline attended school.

Next stop - Hurts Donuts! Yum!! We then grabbed lunch and did some Goodwill shopping.

We left Iowa City/Coralville and headed north to Lake MacBride State Park. The sun was now shining and the day had turned beautiful! We stopped at one of the lakeside docks and took some pictures while enjoying the peaceful day and amazing Fall colors.

As we continued around the lake/park, we found this swing overlooking the lake. I pulled over and we ate our donuts here!

We were quickly losing sun and needed to be to the Quad Cities by dinner time. It was a fun day spent together. Just wished we would've had a bit more time to explore the park.

A few days later, we got a call from Matt. His trip home from Oregon was changed last minute and he needed me to pick him up in Cedar Rapids that night, at 11:00. I loaded up the kids and drove the 90 minutes to pick him up. We decided to stop in Iowa City for some more donuts...because they are open 25/8! It will be a fun memory - running in and getting donuts at midnight on a school night.

Hodge Podge from Late Summer / Early Fall 2018

We quickly adjusted to our school/fall schedule. Cross Country & Volleyball practices, school clubs, youth group, football games, etc. It seems to go from nothing to everything in one week!

One evening on the way home from a Trail Life meeting in Geneseo, Will & Matt stopped to rescue this owl. "Casey Boxer" was lying on the side of the road. They stopped at a gas station to get a box to transport the owl home. Their plan was to find a local rehab rescue group to help Casey get better. Unfortunately, there isn't much in our area so Will & Matt took a trip to Hoo Haven the next evening. They met up with our friend Toni and the founders of Hoo Haven.  We knew that Casey was in great, loving hands.

It's been a few weeks and Casey is doing better. He won't ever leave Hoo due to his bad eye. He will be loved by many people and visitors for years to come. Many thanks to Toni and Hoo Haven!

Kaitee had a milestone in September - she got her braces off!! Look at that radiant, beautiful smile!

We had fun winterizing the yard and garage. I had Will climb up on the garage to clean out the gutters. The girls quickly climbed up behind him and had some fun while up there!

Will received his Trail Life Standard at the awards night in October. They followed the awards with a pumpkin carving contest.

I've been busy too - garage sale/local swaps, work, taxiing the kids, keeping up with the house. As we rearranged the basement (and sorted their Lego sets...another huge project we undertook!!), I realized that I wanted to add some canvas and art to the empty wall (used to have a bookcase there). I came across a great deal for the canvas pictures and ended up completing the wall. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

Will braved the very cold, wet weather mid October for a camping trip to Morrison with his Trail Life Troop. He had a blast and said that the cold wasn't as bad as he thought it would be.

As Fall is in full swing right now, we start looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hard to imagine!