Music, Cheer & Legos - Winter 2017

The twins performed at their first choir and band concert (for middle school) a few weeks ago. All of the kids did such a great job!

Cheerleading clinics were held at the end of the school year, last year. Alex said that she would like to try out.  With no tumbling or dance background, and a shy/quiet personality...we encouraged her to try but didn't truly think she had a chance at making the squad, given her competition.

Well, she tried out and MADE IT!  While she awaited the phone call, I kept playing the scene from The Middle in my head!

We've enjoyed watching her as she cheers for the boys basketball games.

 While Alex was in full swing of Cheer practice, Will participated in First Lego League. It wasn't what he anticipated (I think he thought they'd build with Legos) but he absolutely came to love this club and thrived in it.

From the First Lego League Website...

Tomorrow’s innovators practice imaginative thinking and teamwork. Guided by adult Coaches, FIRST LEGO League teams research a real-world problem such as food safety, recycling, energy, etc., and are challenged to develop a solution. They also must design, build, program a robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS^® technology, then compete on a table-top playing field.
It all adds up to tons of fun while they learn to apply science, technology, engineering, and math concepts (STEM), plus a big dose of imagination, to solve a problem. Along their discovery journey, they develop critical thinking and team-building skills, basic STEM applications, and even presentation skills, as they must present their solutions with a dash of creativity to judges. They also practice the Program’s signature Core Values.

Will especially loved helping with the robot build and programming. 

The first Saturday in December, we spent the day at John Deere Headquarters (just down the road) where the team presented their project as well as competed on the tables with their robot.  While we didn't advance to State, we had fun and learned what to expect next year!

We're on the big screen!

After all of that excitement, Will was super excited to open his new Ninjago City Lego Set.  This set - all $299 of it - was purchased by Will!  He saved his money, sold some of his old Lego sets, did odd jobs around the house, etc.  He saved and saved (and amazingly didn't spend!).  It's a pretty cool set if I say so myself!

Here's the Finished Product!  He had a blast putting it together and playing with it.  It has even motivated him to put together other sets that have fallen by the wayside.  He displayed the set on the kitchen floor than set the timer on the camera to take his own picture!

Merry Christmas - 2017

Dear Family & Friends,           
                                                                                                       
It is 67° outside and sunny – hard to believe it is early December in Illinois!  It seems hard to get into the “Christmas Spirit” when you would rather be outside, enjoying the fall like temps!  However, the calendar and my “to do” list show that Christmas is a few short weeks away so I guess I’d better get to work!

We continue to be a very busy family.  I honestly think our schedules get crazier with every passing year!  It definitely makes us thankful for the quiet nights at home. 

This past year was a fun year with a big vacation to the East Coast.  We toured DC and the surrounding area (so rich in history!), traveled down the Outerbanks of North Carolina, and ended our time in Baltimore for a Cubs game!  Ten great days with lots of wonderful memories made!

Matt just passed his 1 year anniversary with Northwest Respiratory Services.  He is still delivering oxygen to Vets and drives up to 200-400 miles a day!  We are very thankful for God’s protection while he drives that many miles.  He stays active in church with bible studies, helping on the security team and meeting with a few men during the month for prayer and fellowship.

Kaitee – 15 ½ . **Deep breath** She is looking forward to taking Drivers Ed in January. When did this happen? Kaitee has a joy and love for life that I don’t find in many other people.  She always has a hug and a smile on the ready.  Most days, you will find her with her ear buds in, listening to a Broadway musical. This summer she was given a life changing opportunity to travel to Guatemala with church.  She LOVED it!  Another highlight of her year was being elected Treasurer for the high school French Club.

Alex – 13. Alex keeps our calendar full!  She loves music – flute, saxophone (jazz band), school musical and choir.  She auditioned for the Select Choir as well as tried out for cheerleading – making both! She is also involved with WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) as an 8^th grader this year. She had a long summer of Physical Therapy to work through some knee/leg pain she was having. Because of this, she wasn’t able to participate in Cross Country as a runner. She did enjoy being the manager though! We are thankful that most of the pain has disappeared.

Will & Maddie – 11. They are loving Middle School.  This is the first year where they are in different classes – I would say that they like that!

Will joined Cross Country this fall and then participated in First Lego League. They just finished their “season” with the regional competition this past weekend, held at John Deere Headquarters.  His teacher pulled me aside and told me that Will has found his niche with the programming and Lego Robotics building.  What a wonderful thing to hear! The trombone is still his choice of instrument.

Maddie also ran Cross Country – she was given the recognition of “Most Improved” for the 6^th grade girls. She and Will are both in the 6^th grade choir.  Maddie also is on the yearbook and newspaper committees (with Alex). Her favorite school activity is decorating lockers for birthdays. She’s used her own money to purchase streamers, tape and candy! She has many ideas and is ready to present one of them to the school counselor this week (regarding a new club). She’s always two steps ahead of us – keeps us sharp, I guess! Ha!

All of the kids are involved with church activities – childcare, worship team, youth group. After 13 consecutive years attending Awana, we are in our final year (seems hard to believe!). Alex and Kaitee volunteer their time while Will & Maddie complete their last year of participation.

We adopted two guinea pigs this spring – Rosie and Carmel.  I never thought I’d give in to having animals in the house.  It was a nice surprise for the kids and they do a pretty good job of taking care of them. 

I am busy shuffling the kids back and forth to school and activities. I enjoy it most days! During the quiet evenings, you will find us at home watching the latest episodes of The Middle or Survivor (and the Cubs during baseball season) or playing games as a family.  I am still with Chick-fil-A (7 years) and love how the job fits my strengths. Last year I was given the “Employee of the Year” recognition.  It was a humbling honor, to say the least.

We pray that you are doing well and finding joy during this Christmas season. 

Have a Merry Christmas & a Blessed 2018!

With Love,

Matt & Becki Hart

Kaitee, Alex, Will & Maddie

Grandpa Ken Visits - Nov/Dec 2017

Grandpa Ken flew in for a week long visit earlier this month.  We had a wonderful time with him!  The kids were in school all week, so he got a taste of what our typical week looks like. 

He got to watch Will participate in the First Lego League competition.  This was held at John Deere Headquarters - so we got to explore some pretty amazing tractors! The second picture is of the family while we watched the competition, high in the rafters!

After the FLL competition, we loaded into the van and headed to Peoria for the remainder of the weekend.  We were looking forward to showing Grandpa a few of our Christmas traditions...

Saturday night, we drove straight to the Festival of Lights in East Peoria.  Here's our annual "waiting in the car" picture! 

We were lucky and didn't have to wait too long to get in to see the lights.  We headed to dinner than found our hotel for the night. The kids swam for a bit then everyone headed to bed.  It had been a long day.

 

The next day, we woke to sunny skies and headed out to show Grandpa some of fun things in Peoria.  We were surprised to see this new statue along the riverfront.  Doing some research, we found out it's called "Return Visit" and that Peoria just got the statue from Chicago in September.

Our last stop for the day was The Community Festival of Nativities. My sister told me about this last year and we decided to give it a try. We were so glad that we took the time to see it.  Here's Kaitee, admiring a set from Guatemala.

Of course, our time with Grandpa would not be complete without a trip (or 2...) to Whitey's to indulge in delicious ice cream!!  Will decided that he wanted to savor his ice cream, so he asked for a sample size spoon every time.  I'd say that his face shows the pure delight that Whitey's brings!

We've often wondered why Whitey's includes a straw...They just don't work!!

Our time with Grandpa was wonderful!  Here's a few pictures of us just being funny. 

At one point, Matt tried to put this box over his body (the same box that went over Will's body...completely covering him!).  It was pretty comical as Ken walked over to Matt for a nice Father/Son picture.

New Christmas Ornaments - 2017

 New Christmas Ornaments - 2017 Edition!

We put the Christmas tree up over Thanksgiving break and decorated it the day after Thanksgiving.  As is tradition, the first ornaments to go on the tree are the new ones we present to the kids.

Alex was first this year.  We couldn't decide on the flute, saxophone (learned to play so she could join jazz band), guitar, choir (plus select choir which she had to audition for) and the school musical.  Because we noticed a musical theme, we went the "general" route and found this beautiful snowflake made out of old hymnal pages.

 Kaitee, Kaitee!  The highlight for her year would be the mission's trip to Guatemala!  We saw this passport ornament and knew that would be ideal for her!  We also found a map of the country online, which included Guatemala's flag.  We shrunk it down and adhered it to the back of the ornament.

 Maddie and her Shopkins!  While she could care less for the show, she loves to collect the pieces!  She comes up with some creative games as she "plays" with the pieces too.  Sometimes it includes her collection of bouncy balls!!  Don't ask me, I'm clueless!

 As a reward from one of the summer reading programs, Will picked out a Sudoku book.  He didn't know what to expect when he picked it out.  We left for vacation the next day and he quickly figured out how to do the puzzles (driving for 14 hours allows time to figure out things like this!)  Since August, he has gone through 5 books and continues to take a book with him wherever we go.

 I added some new ornaments to my collection as well - a few to remember our vacations as well as a Cub's World Series Trophy and Marquee!  I love our Christmas Tree and the many memories it holds.

Rockford - Our Old Tried and True

A beautiful fall day with no commitments on the calendar means roadtrip!  We set out towards Rockford - our old tried and true!  Our "go to" for a quick day trip.  We drove Hwy 2 north along the Rock River and got to take a long detour through Oregon, thanks to their Halloween/Fall Festival Parade, which closed down the main road through town! 

Once we arrived in Rockford, we ate lunch at Five Guys - a staple for our out of town trips.  We then went in search of the new letterboxes in the area.  We ended our time in Rockford at the Midway Village Museum.  While the Village was closed for the day (we still need to figure out when it is open so we can explore). We took a few minutes to look inside the visitor's center (the museum was closed for the day as well). While looking around the center, we found some pictures of the Rockford Peaches  - from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and the movie "A League of Their Own".  We had just watched the movie with the kids, literally a few days before our trip to Rockford!  We will have to visit the park that holds the remains of the old ballpark (now only the ticket booth is standing) on our next trip.

We had fun playing with the volleyball while Matt found and stamped into the boxes.

Right through the legs!

Another fun day in Rockford - seems like we always find something to do...rarely does it disappoint!  Until next time, old friend!