The Nutcracker Ballet

Audrie and I were lucky enough to go and see The Nutcracker ballet in downtown Houston this afternoon. Last night we went to a little jewelry shop and let Audrie pick out her very own bracelet to wear! Nothing real, just a cheap little bracelet that sparkles :) I got to wear my dress that was supposed to be for Andy's annual Christmas party, and felt a bit overdressed, but it was super fun to play dress up. We got all dolled up and headed out to go downtown then ate at the Hardrock cafe. Audrie got a bit fidgety after the intermission, but all in all did MUCH better than I anticipated. We may have to make it an annual tradition. The best thing of all was the time I was able to spend just with Audrie. She's a sweet little girl and has a wonderful spirit and a very sensitive soul. I love her dearly!

Dress

So every year it is a HUGE endevour to find a dress for Andy's companies Christmas party. It's nigh impossible to find a dress that will cover and that I like without having to alter, cover up or something...which in turn makes me feel very uncomfortable. So this year I made an effort to find a dress EARLY. And I did. And I loved it, and it fit perfectly, covered perfectly and felt so FUN to wear. I was actually excited to go to the Christmas party for once!Then Andy came home one day and told me due to budget cuts they had canceled the party. So my non-returnable, perfect dress is going to have to wait for next year (that is if I can still fit into it then!).

Kaylee's Personality

Many of you who know Kaylee have see what a fussy, kind a unhappy little baby she was. Such a needy little girl and having a hard time about something most of the time. Well in the last six months she has turned into just a little doll! She is so sweet and lovey and so much HAPPIER! Here are a few random photos of her showing this side we always knew she had.

She decided to snuggle with Daddy while he was napping and gave him many sweet kisses while he was resting. I was only able to catch a mid-kiss, but still pretty cute eh?

So a week or so ago we were able to watch little baby Danny Hindmarsh. He was such a good baby, it actually made me baby hungry, Especially when I saw Kaylee interact with him. I was feeding him his bottle and Kaylee just watched intently talking about him in her own language the entire time. I could tell she REALLY wanted to help feed him, so this her attempting to do just that. Look at that cute smirk on her face!

You know those quiet moments? When you think for five second about where everyone is and WHY they are being so quiet...THEN you realize you have no idea what your little two year old is doing? Yeah, had one of those last week. Kaylee decided it would be fun to get in my makeup and this was the end result :) It may be hard to see but she has cover up just caked on her chin and lip. She was very proud of herself, I on the other hand learned it's time to move my makeup.

Halloween

I know I'm a bit behind, but better late than never right? Here are my sweet children all in their costumes ready to hit the streets and go trick or treating. Audrie was a Cheetah Girl, whatever that is I still don't know (and honestly I'm not sure she does either), Tyler obviously Super Man and Kaylee girl a GIRL dragon (note the pink bow we put around the ear). It was the first year since we've lived here that we actually were cold while tracking around the neighborhood! What a nice alternative to sweating profusely! We only lasted about 30 minutes due to Kaylee having a meltdown, but they still got plenty of candy and had no complaints when we got home.

Camping 101

Well we survived…our first camping trip in 6+ years! The last time we went it was a complete disaster (Tyler was just a little baby) and all I remember is burnt tin foil dinners, uncooked pancake batter due to a faulty propane stove and sleep deprivation due to some partying neighbors. I swore I would never camp again. This time after doing some serious preparation (thanks to Cami for her instruction) we actually had a really good time..despite a few setbacks…BUT I think going with the expectation of a sleepless night was a contributing factor to the success.

Things were going great until it got really dark and Kaylee starting running FULL speed in the dark with no particular direction. She miraculously never hurt herself too bad, but it required some quick movement and coordination on Andy’s part. While he was chasing down Kaylee I was quite graceful myself. Because it gets dark so early now it was pitch black by 6pm and we were all stumbling here and there…well I stumbled right over this very large tree stump and did a full 360 landing on my back. I’m sure it was hilarious to see, but man it HURT! I couldn’t even talk for several minutes. Now my legs and elbow are quite purple and my knee is pretty sore still J Then once it was bedtime things went pretty smoothly, although everyone took forever to go to sleep, until around 12:30am. Kaylee started shrieking like a banshee. She would not stop crying and of course the ENTIRE camp could hear her…no pressure or anything right? So I took her to the car and thought she would calm down thinking she might be cold (it was REALLY cold). She didn’t’ stop crying, so I headed home. She threw up in the car. We got home I cleaned her up and looked at the clock and it was 2am. Slept in my own bed while the rest of the family toughed it out. Andy froze, but Ty and Audrie slept like logs.

Once morning arrived I got up to get ready as fast as I could to go and help everyone clean up camp and get home. Kaylee eventually woke up and off we went. The road on the way to the camp ground was closed by police. I had to really talk my way through, which eventually worked.

So needless to say it was an eventful camping trip, but I still am calling it a success. Some may say sleeping in your home may not be camping, but I simply don’t care. It was a success for the Hart family! Camping just might not be in our blood J

We didn’t get ANY pictures with the camera, but fortunately Andy took some while I was not there with his phone. They are of the children playing the FREEZING cold creek, fully clothed. Yeah, that wouldn’t have happened if I was around, but they had a blast while playing…it was the aftermath that wasn’t so fun.

As we were hauling the last load of camping gear to the van, with the biggest smile ever Audrie says, "Mom, can we do this every weekend?" I looked at her with my puffy eyes and said, "I'm gonna have to think about that one..."

Don't let the Distractions of Today Take Away Tomorrow's Memories

"We know what matters most in life—the Light of Christ teaches this to everyone. We as faithful Latter-day Saints have the Holy Ghost as a “constant companion” to teach us the things of eternal value. I imagine that any [sister] listening to my voice today, if asked to prepare a talk on the subject “what matters most,” could and would do an excellent job. Our weakness is in failing to align our actions with our conscience.

Pause for a moment and check where your own heart and thoughts are. Are you focused on the things that matter most? How you spend your quiet time may provide a valuable clue. Where do your thoughts go when the pressure of deadlines is gone? Are your thoughts and heart focused on those short-lived fleeting things that matter only in the moment or on things that matter most?

What grudges do you bear? What excuses do you cling to that keep you from being the kind of [wife, mother, daughter, and visiting teacher] you know you should be? What are the things that distract you from your duties or hinder you from magnifying your calling more diligently?

Sometimes the things that distract us are not bad in and of themselves; often they even make us feel good...We need balance in life."

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down,” Ensign, May 2009, *[changed for emphasis]

One BIG lesson learned from not having power for weeks caused by the aftermath of hurricane Ike was that I was VERY distracted in my everyday life. I have since made it a personal goal in my life is to not let these distractions get the better of me, to see around me and not wait another minute to just go and DO. I am weak and have struggled to change this weakness into a strength, but through the whisperings of the spirit I have decided to turn everything OFF for a while.

So please don't think I'm ignoring you or think you are of less importance I assure you that you are not. I am simply trying to create a better me and ultimately a better mother. If you need to get a hold of me just give me a call :)

The week of Changes

Well, amist all the chaos of this week I planned to color, highlight and cut my hair. This was a first for me...the coloring I mean, so I was a bit aprehensive. So I had a great friend/professional hairdresser do it all for me. I LOVE the cut, but unfortunatly I didn't like the results of the color too much. It ended up WAY too red and so yesterday when I found out about Andy's accident I was just overwhelmed with my red head and playing the "what if? game" with Andy's accident (plus, probably more than you want to know, the puppy has had bowel issues, leaving a less than solid mess EVERYWHERE!). Anyway, needless to say I have been a little uptight :) Here are the final results after getting it darkened. She kept the blong highlights and left enough red to make red lowlights, which are kind of hard to see, but I really like the way it turned out :)