Happy Birthday Poppy!

This year for my Poppy's birthday my dad decided instead of a big party we would have every family sign up to take Poppy out to breakfast, lunch or dinner.  That would give him some more individual quality time with each of our families and would spread his birthday out over a week.  

I picked Poppy up and took him to pick up Port from school.  Then he decided to eat at Ihop...my kids were thrilled!  My mom came and met us for lunch too.  Poppy "got" to sit by Haynes and Port which allowed him to be kicked, pushed, wiped syrup on, and so much more:-)

We had a great lunch and will have to do it again soon!

Willy Wonka

 Kooper was in the production of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."  Brian and I went on Saturday night to watch him for our date night.  

 The next day I took the kids to see him with their cousins.  They had the best time watching their cousin, it was so fun!

Julie leaned over and asked Haynes if he was going to do this "acting."  Haynes goes "NO!" and then looked at me and said, "You aren't going to sign me up for this?!?"

*All that being said...my kids haven't stopped singing and dancing to the oompa-loompa song:-)

Gymnastics Christmas Performance

 Ella was so excited about her new sparkly leotard!

 She did a great job!  We got a lot of video of their performance, but not many pictures....

 Here's the photo of Haynes:-)

They both did a great job and loved all the attention and affection they got from our family!

Christmas Parade

 This year the Christmas Parade had BEAUTIFUL weather!  We met some friends at the parade and actually made it for the whole thing!

Halle had a great time too!  I realized that morning that Halle didn't have any hats...that's been taken care of now:-)

Fun Fridays!

 This week was maybe one of my favorite fun fridays!  We made the cutest snow globes...but I forgot to take pictures:-)  Then Allison made little wreaths with Haynes because he was SO insistent!

 The kids had the best time playing and the boys even entertained the girls by playing dress up together:-)

Owie LOVED some Halle time too!

Arthur's Christmas

Port had to have some warts removed, which was suppose to be pretty traumatic.  Thankfully the dermatologist we met with put "beetle juice" on his spots and they are slowly disappearing...almost pain free!  I'd promised that I had some surprises for him that day, because I thought they were going to burn them off individually so that's how we go to the movies.  I called Angie and they brought their family to meet us.  We were the only people in the theater, so the adults sat in one row and all the kids sat behind us!

The movie was absolutely adorable and I recommend it to everyone...really sweet message!  At one point Arthur says, "Santa is the best!"  Port LOUDLY says, "No he's not!  Jesus is the best!"  All the rest of the kids agree and add in...God too:-)

Ella didn't make it through the whole movie...if you can't tell.  Brian carried her out and I don't think she woke up once!

The Nutcracker

 We decided that Ella was old enough to go see the Nutcracker.  When I was a little girl, every year my mom would take me to see the Nutcracker with my cousins.  We would get dressed up and go eat somewhere fancy before the ballet.  This year OU's ballet had some of my old dancer's in the performance so we thought that would be the perfect show. 

 My mom came with us too!

 Emma, Millie, and Ella 

These three were SO excited!  

We took them to dinner at Victoria's and then headed to Rupel Jones Theater.  

We weren't sure how long they would last, but they actually made it through the whole performance.  We did have a few treats to help:-)  The girls absolutely LOVED it!  On our way to drop everyone off the girls just giggled and laughed in the back seat...it was amazing!

Ella hasn't stopped talking about "the Crack" as she refers to it!!

Christmas Shopping in Dallas

Brian and I headed to Dallas Friday afternoon to do all of our Christmas shopping.  We left all of our kids with my parents and came back Sunday morning.  This is one of my favorite pictures my mom sent us!  My kids enjoyed a weekend of crafts, cooking, and being loved on by Lolli and Champ.  

Brian got to fit in a quick meeting with David Watson, and I finished all of our Christmas shopping!  

I love getting away with my husband!!

Friend of the Week

Port kept a secret for TWO weeks!  I was dropping him off at school on Monday and he said, "Mom will you walk me in?  I'm "friend of the week" this week!"  He had known since before Thanksgiving and decided to keep it a secret since I like secrets so much:-)  Friday was the big day, so I took him to breakfast to celebrate.  

*Friend of the week means that on Friday all the kids in the Kindie class draw a picture of Port and write down what they like about him.  At the end of the day Port gets to stand in the front of the class while his teacher reads everything everyone wrote about him.  For my little guy, who LOVES words of affirmation, it was truly his dream come true!

 These two boys are by far my favorite!  

I think Dax was as excited as Port was for his big day!

(Isn't that just like a best friend)

 Here are some of the things kids said about Port:

-He plays fair

-He loves his family

-He has pretty eyes

-He is good at helping the teachers

-He is cute (a few of these...)

Mr & Mrs Burget!!!

 We had a shower to celebrate one of our favorite couples...

The Burgets!!

It was so fun celebrating them at their favorite time of year!

This was, by far, their favorite shower gift!  

Only a few more days!!!

Andy Allegator

While Jake and Kourtney were in Ghana visiting Harper, we all went to Andy Allegator's to play while Kooper was in drama practice.  The kids had the BEST time as always!

Thanks for a fun night Grandad and JuJu!

Christmas Pajamas

This year we did our December 1st celebration a little early because we were throwing a shower.  The kids were just fine with it!  We had our traditional breakfast for dinner and all the kids did the dishes!  Then on to pj's and the Polar Express!  We had to pause the movie so we could get a little help decorating the tree.  It was a great family night and one of my favorite traditions!

World Champions...

When we pulled out our christmas decorations my boys were thrilled to find this little game.  Brian decided to start a "World Championship" game with them.  Between the three of them they had to catch the ball without dropping it 25x's.  They worked on it for about 30 minutes and I wasn't sure they would get it, but they did!!  They were so thrilled to be the "WORLD CHAMPIONS!"  

Then Brian announced that the Russians called and beat their record, so they had to try to beat the record again...this went on for DAYS!  So if my boys tell you they are "World Champions" then this is what they are referring to:-)

Meeting Anniston Joy

 Ella and Anniston

 Haynes and Anniston

Port and Anniston

*Our kids couldn't wait to meet sweet Anniston, but between Thanksgiving and family time it took a few days!  They were beyond thrilled when we surprised them with a drive by...we were in and out quick so the "hartsock tornado" didn't do too much damage:-)

Yuck!

 My kids are pretty convinced that Halle's baby food is gross!  Haynes made the mistake of saying "Yuck!" to the baby food one night while we were at Johnnies.  Most of the meal, Brian tried to sneak a bite into his mouth...

 Port agreed to try it and decided it was actually pretty good.

Her baby food is actually a combination of fruit and vegetables.

Somehow we finally got a bite into Haynes mouth and he gagged so badly we thought he was going to throw up ALL over the table.  He eventually spit it on the table while saying, "that's pretty good!"  We laughed so hard, even the employees were laughing with us!  This sweet kid has the highest gag reflex I've ever seen...oh how he makes us laugh!

Boys Day/Girls Day

 Brian took the boys to the last OU football game.  I dressed them in all their winter wear and Brian thought I was trying to make them look crazy...until they came home and said they were dressed perfect!  My boys LOVE dates with their daddy!

 While the boys were gone, we decided to have our first "girls play date."  Allison brought Millie and Annie over to play while we got to hang out.  It was one of my favorite play dates:-)

Ella came down saying, "We are taking a shower!"  Allison and I RAN upstairs to find the girls playing in the shower...without the water:-)  I sure do love these mighty women of God!!

Hot Tub!

Brian surprised the kids with some hot tub time!  We knew the boys would love it, but Ella pretty much takes a cold bath because she doesn't like hot water:-)  

It took a little bit, but we all enjoyed a little family time in the hot tub!

 Thanksgiving night we open Christmas pj's at my parents house.  

Check out these cute kids!

 Halle Beth-

9 months

 Ella Rose-

3 years

 Haynes Cole-

4 1/2 years

*He insisted on putting the star on the top of the tree!

Port Robert-

6 years

*He LOVES these pj's:-)

Turkey Trott

 We had amazing weather for Thanksgiving this year.  All the Hartsock's met for a little "Turkey Trott" before lunch.  We decided we can't wait until we live next door and can just walk out our front door to join in on the race!

 Preslee let Ella borrow her bike...

Ella was thrilled!!

These are the winners...

Braxton-1st

Sutton-2nd

Port-3rd

Preslee-5th

Stinky Feet!

 Haynes came home from JuJu's and we looked in his shoes and they were filled with black!  It was so gross Brian threw Haynes in the bath immediately!  We were all laughing about how gross his feet were and so it turned into a family dare...

We played farkle and Port and I lost!  We had to stick our nose in the shoes and smell them.  I went first and pretended to pass out:-)  Everyone followed...

Needless to say, we have retired the green shoes, much to Haynes disappointment:-)

Grandad and JuJu's

 Grandad had all the kids captivated by reading books to them!

These girls are about 2 weeks apart...

 I can only imagine that they will love each other as much as Ella and Bitty do!

JuJu watched my kids while I was at the hospital all day with the Bauers.  I called to check on them and  Blake answered the phone.  He said he'd laid down Jade, Ella, and Elizabeth in the same bed for a nap...surprisingly they all slept! 

We love time with family!

Anniston Joy

 The day before Thanksgiving sweet Aniston Joy was born!  

She is such a fulfillment of God's promises that He has spoken over her.

She's absolutely beautiful!

 Sweet Parents

Kristin and Anniston

We LOVE this little girl so much already!