Chicago and Minnesota - Winter Break Getaways 2016

Matt had a vacation day that he had to "use or lose" by the end of the year.  We decided to head to the Chicagoland area for 2 days.  Maddie asked if we could see Wrigley Field so we added that to the list.  We really didn't have much planned, just a quick getaway to swim and relax.  As we were packing, Matt grabbed the "W" flag he had given me for Christmas.  It was the perfect way to document our trip to Wrigley. 

While the kids have never attended a game, we have driven by Wrigley a few times.  You have not truly watched baseball until you've watched a game sitting in Wrigley!  She isn't too pretty right now (under construction), but it was wonderful to see the Championship marquee!

Standing in front of the marquee, it was hard to envision how crazy busy it was the night the Cubs won the Series....



We drove around the block and pointed out statues, the scoreboard and Murpy's! 

We finished our time in Chicago with some amazing food, swimming at the hotel and shopping.  Great fun!

Less than a week later, Matt was given an opportunity to travel to Minnesota (Twin Cities), to pick up a vehicle for work.  We decided to head up as a family and spend the night.  We surprised the kids with this news and told them we were heading to the Mall of America!  They were just a *tad* bit excited!  We found a few letterboxes along the way to MN and even stopped for the state sign!  It's hard to believe that it was January 1st and hardly any coats needed!  Matt told them to "look cold" ...Alex and Maddie tried at least!  We played at the mall for a few hours (shopping, eating, riding the rollercoasters) and then shopped at IKEA.  We checked in to our hotel and swam for an hour then found dinner.  Unfortunately, we were going to be driving home the next morning through a horrible winter storm (ice, freezing rain and blizzard like snow).  We left at 5 am in hopes of making it as far south as possible before the storm reached us.  Matt & I drove separately and we were both fervently praying for God's protection from the weather.  At one point, we stopped at a rest area and Matt shared "as I was praying for God to hold the storm off, the wind literally changed direction and started blowing east to west!"  The wind had been a strong line coming from the west up until that point.  I confirmed that I knew right when that happened, because I felt the wind change as well.  What an amazing God we serve! 

Aside from a few snowflakes and drizzles, we got home without seeing any portion of the storm.  Friends from the Twin Cities area confirmed that the area had indeed been hit with freezing rain and ice later that morning.  We made a good decision to leave early (as much as it sucked getting up and going at that time!).  We literally felt like God held back the storm.

Our 2 short getaways were wonderful!  We had fun as a family and enjoyed our time together!

Christmas Celebrations - 2016

We started our Christmas Season with a few concerts.  I didn't take pictures of Alex's band/choir concerts but here are a few pictures from Maddie & Will's concert. 

Christmas Eve, we headed out to Becki's parents for the Barman Christmas.  We enjoyed some great food and watched the kids put on their Nativity Skit.  Due to time constraints, the skit had to be shortened drastically...but it was still great!

We left the Barman Christmas and headed to church for Christmas Eve Service.  It was a beautiful service with the candelight ending.  Always very touching!

The next morning was a dilemma.  With Christmas landing on a Sunday, we wanted to attend church.  However, the kids wanted to open presents before church and I wanted us to eat our traditional breakfast before church!  Lots to do before getting ready and heading out the door!  Lucky for Matt & I, the kids woke up SUPER early!  I made them go back to bed for at least another hour!  I'm pretty sure we were all up and moving at 6 - a feat for us!

After the monkey bread and egg casserole were in the oven, we sat down to open presents.  I love that the kids are still surprised - even when they know what they are getting (or think they know!). 

Kaitee's big gift this year was The Gifting book set by Katie Ganshert.  While our Kaitee has this set on her Kindle, she really wanted "real" books that she could read and loan out to friends.  I got in touch with Katie Ganshert (local artist who also goes to our church) and she agreed to signing the books for Kaitee.  A really nice surprise for her!

Alex continues to travel down the "music path" and we surprised her with her own guitar this Christmas!  She couldn't wait to open it and start playing!

Legos - so hard to disguise!  I have started to disassemble box and place all the bags in a bigger box with lots of towels...trying to muffle the "Lego" sound.  So far, it has worked!  They are always surprised!

The kids weren't the only ones surprised this year!  Matt ordered a few Cub things for me!  By far, my favorite gift was this ornament of Bill Murray wearing a Cub hat! I'd say he looks pretty good on our tree!

Another fun filled Christmas Season "in the books". 

Christmas Time is Here! 2016

Thanksgiving weekend - time to put the Christmas tree up, deck it out with lights and decorate.  While the tree and lights are quite the chore, I thoroughly enjoy putting up the ornaments!  It is so nostalgic to look through the box and remember the kids as they were babies and then toddlers...now young adults.  I love looking at the ornaments that help us remember our fun (and not so fun!) trips.  We even have a few funny ornaments that only the 6 of us would understand.  I love my little family and the memories that we have shared over the past 17 years.

This year's ornaments were given out after the tree was decorated (usually we give them out before other ornaments have been placed on the tree).  Due to work and commitments, this is what worked for us this year.

Kaitee received this Amelia Earhart Brooch to remember her trip with Matt to Amelia's birth home in Atchison, Kansas.  She continues to love the history of Amelia!

Will played "Ed" in the school musical "The Lion King" and did a wonderful job. 

Alex continues to run Cross Country and has improved her overall time.  She looks forward to running track this spring as well.

There is always one elusive ornament (or kid) to figure out.  This year it was Maddie.  We finally decided on this Snoopy Detective for her (thanks to a light bulb moment by Matt).  You see, she is very intuitive and doesn't miss any conversation (whether she's a part of it or not!).  Not much gets past her.  I miss the days of spelling things out and having the kids be clueless to what we speak of!  She often sits in the back seat and tells Matt if he is speeding.  Thanks kid!

After Matt's Nook (Raccoon) Fiasco, I couldn't let the year go by without commemorating it with an ornament. 

This was an ornament we purchased a year or two ago...but it sums up our year really well.  We visited all of the Lincoln sites in Springfield, IL this year as well as finished up our "Looking For Lincoln" hunt.



And for some cheap entertainment...here's Will singing along to one of the National Lampoon's Vacation Ornaments.  Whenever I watch this, I can't get over how much he looks like Anthony Michael Hall from the original Vacation movie. Enjoy!

Hart Family Christmas Letter 2016

Christmas 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

As another year ends, we take a few minutes to reflect on what 2016 meant to us.  The good, the bad, the mundane and the exciting – every part counts.  The older I get, the more I realize that life is full of seasons and that “exciting” is overrated! 

We did a lot of traveling this year.  Our family trip was spent driving over 4,000 miles through the New England states.  We saw some of God’s wondrous beauty as well as some man-made beauty!  It was a great trip, filled with lots of memories (most of them good!).  Matt and Kaitee visited Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas for their father/daughter trip.  They revisited the Laura & Almanzo Wilder home (MO), Eureka Springs (AR) and Amelia Earhart’s home (KS).  As a family, we also visited Michigan, Chicago, Springfield, IL (lots of Lincoln history) and Wisconsin.

Kaitee is 14 and a freshman in high school.  She loves high school life.  She has a few clubs that she participates in on a weekly basis when time and homework permit.  Homework consumes most of her time, spending 4-5 hours studying most days. In her spare time, she loves everything Harry Potter, Nancy Drew (there’s always a mystery to figure out!) and Hamilton.  Her & Alex both volunteer their Tuesday evenings at Awana as well as a few weekends helping at church with the younger kids.

Alex is 12 and in her 2^nd year at the middle school.  She keeps busy with band (flute), choir and sports (XC and Track).  She loves to run!  She is looking forward to learning the saxophone over the winter so she can participate in the jazz band.  After working diligently this past spring, she received her Timothy Award in Awana.  She had to complete 2 books in one year to accomplish this!  Getting baptized last month was a highlight for her – for all of us!

Will & Maddie will be turning 11 in January.  They are in their last year of grade school.  With their last year comes a lot of responsibilities (patrol, student council, band), which keep them busy.  Will chose to play trombone this year.  While he loves playing, he doesn’t like practicing.  If not playing Legos or reading comic books, Will often asks, “What can I do to help, Mom?”.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t care for my usual answer of “Well, you could go clean your room”! The biggest highlight for both Will & Maddie was attending their first week long church camp (by themselves).  They loved it and are counting down the days until next June!

Maddie keeps us on our toes mentally.  Not a secret can be kept when she is around!  She has become very astute at listening (eavesdropping)! She loves to keep us on task when we forget to do what we promised!  She decided that she didn’t want to play an instrument but keeps busy with artwork and crafts.  She loves playing with her Shopkins and Legos (often making up games that include using her collection of bouncy balls).  She and Alex still help lead kid’s worship once a month – they really enjoy doing that.

After more than 10 years with Option Health, we made the very hard decision to change jobs this year.  Matt started with Northwest Respiratory Services in September.  While the company and paperwork are different, he is still delivering oxygen (solely) and doing what he loves most (interaction with patients and driving).   He is still studying Hebrew with a friend and keeps busy with church & family commitments. 

I took on the role of chairperson for the 5^th grade class this year.  There are fundraisers to coordinate as well as end of the year activities to plan.  I was very overwhelmed by the prospect initially, but have found my grove and am enjoying it!  I am still working 15-20 hours/week in the office at Chick-fil-A.  I am definitely keeping busy running to and from work, school and activities.  I wouldn’t have it any other way!

We often say to the kids (as we send them out the door in the morning), “remember to bring glory to God in all that you do today”.  This goes for the good, the bad, the mundane and the exciting times! We are blessed beyond belief and hope that you know the True Love of God – sent to us on Christmas Day as a baby in a manger. 

We pray that you have a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful 2017!

With Love,

Matt, Becki, Kaitee, Alex, Will & Maddie Hart

2321 25^th Street

Moline,IL  61265
309-764-2347
www.hartx6.blogspot.com

From Fall to Winter

It seems that there is always something happening at our house!  I don't know if this is good or bad...

We had a fall clean up day in November.  We were blessed with beautiful weather - above norm temps.  Because of this, our trees didn't lose their leaves until late November, early December.  Here are Will & Alex working on the majority of the leaves.  Poor Will, he had to do the front gutters again just a few weeks later!

The temps turned a bit colder and the sun disappeared much earlier...this calls for family game and family movie nights!

While eating dinner out one night, the kids watched a poker tournament on tv.  They took the hat and sunglasses idea a bit far during our next game night!

Of course, everything is DAB worthy these days...

Alex found this huge collection of safety pins while at Goodwill.  Unfortunately, all the pins were open and stuck together!  We purchased the collection as a Christmas gift for her Cross Country Coach (Perkins).  He gives kids a safety pin to place on their shoelaces every time they PR during the season (get a new personal record). It is a great visual for the kids.  We had "fun" untangling this mess!  Hopefully Perkins gets a kick out of her gift!

Our first snow of the season - it was very wet and stuck to everything!  We were expecting no more than 2 inches but ended up with between 6-8 inches!  A crazy start to our winter.