September Happenings

We started off the "school year" last week with our first days of Bible study and Mommy and Me for 2012-2013. (As a former teacher and wife of a current teacher, I still think of years in terms of school years, not calendar years.) Abigail is excited about her new class and loves the fact that we have a "therapy" dog in the room too (you can see him in the background). 

 Showing off her new backpack...

Abigail loves feeding, bathing, and taking care of her Sesame Street friends. As you can see, she still loves climbing into containers of any size too.

 
One of Abigail's favorite books lately, has been Caps For Sale... it is an old book (written in the 40's), but absolutely a classic. She loves to act out the part of the monkeys in the book by shaking her finger and saying "Tsz, tsz, tsz" at the peddler. Here's a picture of Daddy and Abby dressing the part... "Caps! Caps for Sale! 50 cents a cap!"

Of course, as a reading teacher and lover of books, I'm thrilled that she is enjoying her books so much. The other day I found her in her room sitting in the glider, reading a book to her baby doll. She had closed the blinds and turned on the noise machine too (like we do at bedtime) because she was going to put her baby to bed. So cute! I love that she is getting more and more into pretend play. She's also becoming so verbal that we're starting to have little conversations. I feel like I enjoy her age more and more every day!

And lastly, I'll finish with a funny pick of our silly girl...

Coming Soon...

The Hart Family will be growing in 2013... we are expecting another baby due on my dad's birthday, March 6th!

We are all very excited about our growing family (and mommy's growing belly). Abigail is excited to tell you that she's going to be a sister (even if she looks a little dazed in this photo)...

And... when asked if she wants a sister or a brother, she replies, "bruver." We'll have to wait and see.

I had a tough first trimester (I was very sick this time), but I am so thankful that David was home this summer to help take care of Abigail (and me) when I was feeling sick and/or exhausted. I have started feeling a bit better this week though, and the belly is growing too... I had to bust out my box of maternity clothes yesterday to find some shorts that fit!

Summer Fun

We've been enjoying a pretty relaxing summer so far in the Hart household. This week we tried to take advantage of David's few remaining days off and took a trip to the LA Zoo. here's a few snapshots of our adventure...

Loving a close encounter with the Gorilla

 And the Iguana...

 And the Zebra

 We've also had lots of fun downtime just playing around in the house with some new toys.  Here's Abigail modeling her playdough jewelry...

 Jumping on Daddy for a rest/ piggy-back ride

Showing off her first clip-on earrings from her great-grandmother

 

  Going for a ride in her new wagon with Cookie Monster

We've also been soaking up lots of pool time at my parents' house, trying to stay cool in the heat. Abigail is also loving her new "chore" of watering the flowers.

Only a week and a half more of summer... we're trying to enjoy some good family time here and stay cool.

Campus by the Sea: Catalina

Last week we went to Campus By the Sea, a Christian Family camp on Catalina Island, a very special place for our family (David and I grew up going there and it is where we met in college while on staff together). It was so awesome to see Abigail enjoy the camp so much this year... beginning to love a place we have loved for so long. She had a blast in the play yard, did well in her class, enjoyed singing times, loved interacting with big kids and lots of new people, dropped lots of rocks of the pier with Daddy, and even slept pretty well (Amen!). David and I enjoyed hiking, swimming, volleyball, a great camp speaker, and some great bible study small group time. Here are some snapshots of our time together:

In the play yard...

 This precious little girl with Downs befriended Abby and was so sweet with her all week. It warmed my heart to see the amazing spirit God gave this special 8 year old girl.

 Checking out the play house...

 Enjoying a popsicle on the rocky beach

 Enjoying her new chair on our cabin's patio

Still loving the backpack on a few family hikes

 Lifeguard in Training

 On Banquet night

 Annual picture at the Vintage camp sign

Can't wait until next summer!!!

Indiana Trip

(Sorry it's taken me so long to get this post together!)

As soon as David finished school we dove into summer by jetting off to Fort Wayne, Indiana to visit his parents who moved there recently from California. We all miss them terribly already, so we were excited to get the opportunity to visit them and see their new home. Here are some snapshots of our journey...

Abigail made friends with our seat neighbor on the airplane and climbed in her lap by the end of the flight... thank you Lord for a gracious neighbor!

 We hit up many different parks during our time in Indiana...

 

Abigail enjoyed the frozen custard at Culver's... I think she had it three times while we were there :) With my love of ice cream, I guess there's no surprise here...

Our friends the Geliske family drove down from Michigan to join us for a day at the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. We had a blast with them and it was so fun to see Abby and Kyle interact as they are only 4 days apart.

 

 Abigail had two up close interactions with animals... first she got to feed the giraffe some lettuce, then a goat tried to eat her hair in the petting zoo. Poor thing was traumatized from it, I think, as she brings it up at least once a day (she points to her head with a scowl on her face and says "goat, bite, owie!" )

 

We also got to experience some interesting weather with both high heat (100+) and some intense thunderstorms that knocked out trees and power all around town (luckily not ours though). This pool (which Abby referred to as her boat) kept her cool on those hot days!

David and Kelly (his mom) also took Abigail to a butterfly exhibit at the botanical gardens

 Lastly, Abigail loved chasing after the cats at her Grammy and Opa's house... too bad they never quite warmed up to her. This cat, Max, is keeping a close eye on Abby.

 We had a great visit, ate lots of yummy food, and shared some wonderful experiences together on our first trip to Indiana. Kelly and Doug were so gracious in allowing us to take over their space for the week and didn't even complain when she woke them up early every morning. They even endured two 3 hour car rides to and from the airport with us. Thank you Kelly and Doug! We love you guys and can't wait til our next visit!

\

San Diego 1/2 Marathon

Last weekend, David, my brother, and I all ran the San Diego Rock' n' Roll 1/2 marathon. While I have done several halves before, this was David and Matthew's first. ( I don't believe they had run much past 5 miles before they started training). As many of you know, David always said he hated running. I've been able to coax him into a few 5K's before, but nothing longer than that and we had probably only run together a handful of times over the past few years. He's an active guy, but running wasn't really his thing. Well, not so anymore! What started as peer pressure from his female colleagues who basically dared him to run this race with him, turned into a new hobby. It's been so great to be able to run together over the past few months, and apparently I didn't scare him away because he's already talking about the next 1/2 marathon he plans to run. Music to my ears!!!!

A big thank you to my parents who came down to San Diego to watch Abigail during the race! And thanks to my sister-in-law for capturing these shots after the race...    

 Abigail, enjoying my post-race Jamba Juice :)

 

 Hermosa's fit teachers... David with two of his co-workers who pressured him into the race... thanks ladies! I owe you!

 David wrote "I hate peer pressure" on the name portion of his racing bib... in this case, I'm thankful for it!